Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-15
SOME MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS
UNEXPLAINED NOISES WHICH PEO-
PIE SOMETIMES HEAR.
Many Thought They Heard the VIc-
tOrian Salutes at I'm possible Dis
tances-Other Similar Cases.
From the London Mail.


short while since 1 received number
of letters ION individuals in various parts
of the country seeking an explanation Of
| the sounds of distant guns which had been
heard, but which could not be accounted
for. Many paragraphs to the same effect
appeared in the daily press, and all having
reference to the same period-viz, the week
| or two succeeding the queens death.
Two very interesting facts are opened up
by these suggestions. First, the readiness
with which phenomena otherwise missed
are observed when the attention is on the
alert. / able to give an instance of
| this two years ago on an occasion when
| the Daily Mail had announced that 1 was
going to fire aerial signal bombs from a
balloon. The balloon duly assembled, and L
received a large number Of perfectly gem
uine accounts from observers over all the
heart of the country, who said they had
heard me firing from the skies. Yet in
reality, owing to mfschance. not single
bomb had been exploded. The simple fact
was that attention had to some consider
able extent been aroused and something
| in the way Of distant firing had undoubt-
eddy been heard. Other kindred examples
of the same kind Of experience are not far
to seek. The following is an amusing ex-
ample:
A Londoner was travelling down to Swan
tent on the refreshing change he was
about to enjoy. After some hours he
caught sight Of blue water and exclaimed:
There's the seal" and then he shifted the
gale and cried again, "Oh, there's the de-
| lightful smell of the ocean, What he
really smelt, however, was an empty fish
van at the rear of the train, and there was
the fact that the same van had been there
| all the way down from Paddington. Never
| theless. he had never noticed it, simply be-
| cause up to that point his attention had
not been sufficiently aroused. Very pos
sibly a similar explanation may account
| for the unusual reports as Of distant firing
| which were heard lately at a time when
| the minds Of observers would be liable to
| be quickly aroused by the semblance of
| any such sounds. 4.9
Indian Instances.
But another fact claims to be noticed
| here viz that sounds as of distant firing
which remain wholly unaccountable have
| been noticed in many parts of the world,
| and with greater frequency and distinct
| ness under purer and warmer skies than
ours Quite a number Of districts in India
| are famous by reason Of these very phe-
! nomena. AS, for example, the country ly-
1 ing between the Brahmaputra and the Caro-
Hills in Assam, where at all hours as also
] in all weathers, though more particularly
| in fair seasons. far-off booming is heard.
| Again. in the same region, but nearer the
| river bank. heavy cannonade has been
| heard as though coming from the river It
| self, though without any obvious cause ever
| having been discovered The native boat
| men are perfectly familiar with the sounds,
| which they assert used to be heard when
| their elders were young men, and in their
/ fathers fathers time before them Ac-
| cording to their tradition they are due to
| the gods. who thus constantly celebrate the
| marriage of the Gauges with the Brahma-
putra.
| Two hundred miles south of this district,
| in the neighborhood Of Barisal in the delta
of the Ganges, the same sounds have be-
| come so familiar as to acquire the name of
| "Barisal guns They are described as a
dull. muffied booming resembling that of
! heavy cannon proceeding from a great dis
| lance The reports are at irregular inter-
! walls. sometimes single, sometimes in quick
| succession. An ingenious explanation has
attributed them to the bursting of bamboo
/ or other hollow canes In jungle fires, but In
| this case they should certainly be occasion
| ally heard at close quarters, which appar-
entity is not the case. The uniformly dis
| tant effect noticed in the sounds would
rather point to their proceeding from un-