Commun, particulière de M. Ross, à l'île Keeling

SB9. Meteorological Office. Cossack, September 3, 1883. (Lat. 20^ 40* South; Long. 117° 8' East).

>Prom accounts received from the Ashburton, Fortescue apd Nicol Ray to the Westward, and from the Hamersley, Sheriock-River and Yule River to the East, there were reports on the 27*** like heavy guns some 7 or 8 times. Earlier on the day to the Westward and later in the daytothe Eastward, altogether a remarkable fact. (w. s.) R. R. Martin. Observer. Extract from the Western Australian, Tuesday September 18, 1883. • Reports similar to the discharge of artillery were heard along the coast from the Ashburton to the Sherlock, and inland as far as the Hamersley Range. At the Fortescue Mr. J. Stewart thought it was a ship in distress and rode off to the landing.

367*. From the Observer at Geraldton.

The meteorological reporter, having been instructed by the Honr^^" Surveyor General , to report on the unusual rising of the sea that took place hère in August last I bave to state that about 1 o'clock a. m. on Monday the 27^ August 1883 a rumbling noise was heard in the North EasU followed by two or tbree distinct reports like that of a cannon. (w. s.) H. Jarmer, Observer. Extract from Victoria-Express, Wednesday August 29, 1883. Geraldton (Lat. 28° 46* 40* S. ; Long. 114° 36' 14' E). .

•Coupled witli Ihe above unusiial occurrence (les ondes marines, V.) there were strange dislaut rumbfmg sounds heard in Geraldton , Tibradden , Mines Road and elsewhere."

Extract frora the Western Australian, Friday Aug. 31. 1883.

>We received the following telcgram from Geraldton yesterday. Strange rumbling sounds were heanl hère and at Tibradden and elsewhere on Monday morning early the 27'*' insl." 367**. Commun, du Staiï-Commander Goghlan R. N. Nature N^ 737, Dec. 13, de Perth, 14 Sept. -This coast bas been visited by waves and volcanic disturbances (sounds as of thefiringofgunsinlandetc.Japparentlyassociated with the Sunda Strait oulJireak."

Java Bode du 8 Oct., Perth 31 (?) Aug. >Des bruits retentissants, qui se succédaient avec rapidité et ressemblaient à de fortes décharges d'artillerie, furent entendus hier (?) sur ^ilTércnts points de la côte."

Tâgliche Rundschau, N°. 256. Aus Perth in West-Australiën wird unter dem 27 Aug. gcschriebcn: *Femer dumpfer Donner, wie Kanoncnsalven, wurde heute in mehreren Orten an der Kûste gehôrl".

Ëxtract from the Western Austrahan of Tuesday September 4, 1883.

>Our Victorian Plains correspondent writing on August 31 says: Last •Monday people were startled by hearing a séries of loud reports, resera-

• Wing that of arlillery at a distance, in a North Westerly direction. The

• fîrst sounds were heard by a few persons at 11 p. m. on Sunday, conti- 'nuing at irregular intervais till al)OUt 4 p. m. on Monday, sometimes ■as many as three reports occurred in a minute, but generally there where

• a few minutes interval. As there were thunder clouds low on the North ■ Western horizon ail the time it is considered probable that the reports >were of electric origin".

Après avoir parlé de l'éruption volcanique dans le détroit de la Sonde, dont la nouvelle venait d'être apportée par télégramme de Singapore, le journal continue ainsi: >This information seems to furnish an explanation of the tidal wave and other récent phenomena on our coast. Not only on the coast were strange sounds heard during the early part of last week, described as resembling the firing of cannon. From the Williams also we learn that similar phenomena bave occurred inland. A correspondent writing from that district, states that on Sunday afternoon, and until 8 o'clock p. m. (? a. m. Verb.) on Monday morning successive sounds were heard apparently underground, such as would be produced by the firing of large guns at a great distance. The sounds were heard more distinctly 6 or 7 miles to the westward of the bridge than at the township ilself. Aperson

travelling from Murradong to the Bannister states lliat he heanl the same noises and that they apparently came from the neighbourhood of the Williams.

In Perth also a noise apparently of gun fiiing was heard by a few persons and similar sounds are reportée! to hâve startled the inhabitants of Victoria Plains."

Les informations de TÂustralie occidentale, réunies par les soins de M. ËLLERT, astronome du Gouvernment à Melbourne, m'ont été envoyées par le Consul-général des Pays-Bas à Melbourne, Jhr. D. Ploos VAN Amstel.

367* Java Bode du 8 Octobre. Communication du chef de la station télégraphique de Daly Waters. Reproduite d'après les journaux australiens.

367'. On Monday moming Àugust 27'^ M'. Skinner reports that two distinct explosions were heard at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station. Long. 133^37' E., Lat. 23° 38' S., about 10»^ 10» a. m.,simaar to the discharge of a rifle. The same sounds were also heard at the sheep camp nine miles west of the station , and by the men at Undoolga , a cattle station 25 miles east of Alice Springs.

M'. Kemp at Daly Waters Telegraph Station, reports >0n Sunday the 26^*^, about midnight, we were awakened by an explosion resembling the blasting of a rock which lasted for a few minutes. Next moming, Monday the 27^, between 9.30 and 10.0 o'clock, a similar noise with sUght vibration was heard and felt, continuing for 15 minutes. Men camped 5 miles south of Daly Waters also heard it. The natives were much alarmed and said that was how the waterholc at Trew's pond was formed. The noise was also heard at the Elsey-Greek and other places on the overland Telegraph".

(Commun, de M. C. Todd, Astronome du Gouvernement à Adélaïde).