Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-07-29
CURIOUS NATURE.
An Explanation of the Voices Of
the Mountains"

literal as well as the figurative sense.
They not only speak to the eye, but
also at times to the ear. In the soli-
tude and silence of wind and uninhab-
tied mountain regions the prospector
or hunter is sometimes startled by ex-
plosions that resemble cannon shots.
In the settled regions near mining
camps these sounds would be attributed
to the firing of blasts, and would at
tract little attention, but when heard
in places remote from settlements, in
the stiffness of the mountains, they are
phenomena calculated to excite the
wonder and awe of the superstitious
Indian and to greatly puzzle the wan
dering, solitary white man. From
time to time mention is made of these
mysterious explosions by prospectors
returning to the Comstock from the
wilds of the mountains. In some in
stances prospectors have spent hours in
trying to find some supposed secret
camp or mine, being at the time quite
confident that the noise heard was the
explosion of a blast. Others hearing
these booming sounds in mountain sol
itudes have attributed them to the fall
and explosion of meteoric stones. Two
prospectors who recently returned from
trip to the Pahranagat mountain, in
Southern Nevada, asserted that on two
occasions they heard the report of burst
ing meteors that fell in the daytime.
They saw no falling meteors, but were
unable to think of any thing else that
could produce the sounds they heard.
Now, the fact is that these mysteri-
Gus explosions are heard in the mount
aims of many countries, but most fire.
quently, it would seem, in mineral re-
gions They are phenomenon in re-
gard to which the scientists are almost
wholly silent The first mention made
of the hearing of these singular explo-
sions in this part of the continent is
found in the journal of Lewis and
Clarke, who in 1903 pushed their way
through the wilderness to the Pacific
Ocean. They say that the strange re-
ports were attributed by the Indians to
the bursting of the rich deposits of
silver resting in the bosom of the
mountains. The explorers were in the
Rocky mountains when they heard the
sounds
In 1910, when Wilson Price Hunt
and Donald M'Kenzie, with a number
of Canadian voyageurs, made their
way across the continent to the mouth
of the Columbia river, they reported
hearing strange explosions in the
Black hills. The reports seem to have
been more common there than in any
other place of which | am able TO find
any account. They say that ''in the
most calm and serene weather, and al
all times of the day or night, successive
reports are now and then heard among
these mountains, resembling the dis
charge of several pieces of artillery
In 1854, members of the Darien ex
ploring expedition, commanded by
Lieutenant Strain, U. S. NJ, while los
and wandering in the mountains, heart
reports like the firing of cannon, bu
which they finally concluded to be tn,
sound of falling trees. The journal o
the expedition says in one place
''puring the night all were aroused b,
a sound like the report of heavy gun
from the northward and eastward, ant
anxious looks and inquiries were ex
changed, for they supposed it to be tn,
nine o'clock gun of the 'Cysne. -
"This may be, says the journal, "bu
We now distrust our ears, having beef
so often deceived by the falling tim
bcr." Similar reports had very Otter
been heard as the party wandered abou
in the mountains. and had been attrih
utcd to the falling of trees.
These singular explosions are said t
occur very frequently in Central an
South America, in the mountain II
gions; also, in Brazil. Vasconcellas,
Jesuit father, describes one which h
heard in the Sierra, or mountain IT
gion of Piratiniga, and which he con
pares to park of artillery. The Ir
dams told him that it was an explosio
OF stones. The worthy father soon ha
satisfactory proof of the truth of the
information, for 1.-The very place Wa
found where rock had burst open an
exploded from its entrails a stony mas
like bomb-shell, and of the size Of
bulls heart" This mass was broke
in its election, and" says the chron
Gle, ''wonderful was the Internal o
Canization revealed. 1t had she
harder even than iron, within whic
were arranged, like the seeds of
pomegranate, jewels of various color
some transparent as crystal, others I
fine red and others of mixed hues.
The same phenomenon is reported
occur occasionally in the province I
La Guara, Venezuela, where ''ston'
the size of mans fist are exploded
with loud noise, from the bosom {
the earth, and scatter about glitterin
and beautiful fragments that look liz
precious gems. but are of no value "
Tie Indians of the Amazon also te