The herald., 1893-08-27
STRANGE SOUNDS.
GUNS OF BURRIsAUL yANo OTHER
MYsTlFyINo PHENOMENA.

| MYSTlFYiN0 PHENOMENA.
Noises Made By Natural Causes For which
No Explanation Has Evvr Been Found.
Famous Sounds In various Parts Of the
Earth Have Scared Many.
OF strange sounds which probably de-
pend on meteorological or other natural
causes, one Of the most remarkable has
long been known as ''theI guns of Bur
risaul," but though its caelses have long
been debated no accurate explanation
has been given, so far aaSwe are aware,
that is thoroughly satisfactory. The
SunderbundB--a the delta Of the Ganges
in native dialect is called--is covered
with Q vast and luxurfant Jungle Of
marshy vegetation. Ona of the stations
is named Burrisaul. From. here, in the
rainy season, have long been heard mys-
terious sounds resembling the discharge
Of artillery, and thera6o<e popularity
named ''the guns Of Burrisaul."
Only heard In the rainy season and
from the southwark, they have been
heard 100 miles of, yet on the coast it.
self they appear still farther south. The
sounds resemble the booming of cannon.
Mussulman and Hindoos superstitions
have each associated tho sounds with
their religious traditions Others have
thought the esounds were rrodnced by the
breaking of the sea on an island In the
bay Of Bengal. But whereP That some
atmospheric or meteorological cause Is
the explanation Is all that can be said
after hearing all arguments.
A much humber yet ancient instance
Of great local interest used to exist, we
believe, at Baddeley, in thes New forest,
in the shape of a groaning' tisee. Whether
it stin lives and groans we age uncer-
tain, but it is said to have uttered mys-
terious and lugubrious sounds at certain
times, probably dependent on. wind or
weather, but full Of omen andaimport to
past generations. Indeed IN the various
mysteries which, despite fin de steele
acuteness, still surround us, taerie noises
have always played most conspicuous
part, whether out of doors Tor within
anciept houses. InstancesIoff fthe latter,
indeed, abound. Some of the raost thrill
ing Of inexplicable ghost stories turn
not on anything which has sppalled the
eyes, but has distilled horror through
the ears. 1t is, we believe, in East An
glia that the shrieks heard from time to
time round certain pits have long been
q tradition in which a female phantom
has part.
The drummer of Tedwortk's" phan-
tom sounds are so well known from
Aubrey and more modern describers as
only to need allusion, but we may here
say that, according to Communication
in popular periodical some few years
back, similar sounds had recently, com
paratvely speaking, been heard in the
locality, and by people of most practical
disposition. These may te called phan.
tom sounds. Returning again to those
which hover on the border line between
the natural and inexplicaHle, there is the
wild strain as Of weird music which has
been heard aboard ships when getting
within the circle of Mozambique cy-
clone.
One of tho same kiud, formerly mys-
terious and thrilling enough, has been
resolved into natural osae. EARLY trav-
elers through the PRIME forests Of
Brazil-still among the few unAxplored
places Of the globe-were astonished and
awed to hear the distantsresonant sound
of bell pealing from the depths Of the
woods, which rN.-tainly had no building
and for ages H.. : 4.nown mo- human foot
step. Many legend was woven round
the strange sound. Ultimately it was
discovered to be the noteof the bell bird.
There are, however, few mysterious
sounds which have been asasatisfactorily
explained as this. For instance, there is
the legend of the sounds heard at times
on the plains of Marathon the clash of
weapons, the snorting of horses, the
shouting Of tho slayers audscreeching
of the slain" which recall to memory
the famous battle that lives so much
more wildly than manynnodern ones in
the history of the world. OF course
there are many instances of sounds
which, at frst|mysteriou8 become SO re-
ally from the distance ouer which they
travelled. but these must te distinguished
from those which are ourytheme.
One of the most interesting examples
rests on the authority Of fne late Sir Ed
mund Head, who remembered when
boy going TO church On the famous
'.Waterloo Sunday" June 1S, 1916, at
Hythe, in Kent His father and he, on
arriving at the churchsats11 q. M, found
to their surprise the congregation out
side listening intently to the faint sound
as of distant cannon coming from the
east. Afterward it was, ,sscertained that
Napoleon having. on the (for him) un-
fortunate advice of his'wfillery officers,
who pleaded the state sof the ground.
waited till II to commence his fire, the
first French gun was fred as the Nivelles
church clock struck II. Nor was Hythe
the only place where the French cannon
were heard in England.
Here, however, is fact dependent on
the by no means remarkable axiom that
sound under certain conditions travels
enormous distances. But the sounds Of
which we speak for the most part have
puzzled ali who have attempted to ex-
plain them and lie indeed in that vague
region which is inexplicable. Suchis Che
sound of the "Airlie drum" such are the
wailing of the banshee in some parts OF
Ireland. New York Post.
Marrow, but Useful.
Tho rood 1adv WAS pDinp arOriod