DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70266#0421
EXTRAORDINARY DROUGHT. 375
under, not a little contributed to hasten the fatal effects.—<
The natives also died in greatrnumbers.
In the month of November that year, the dry season hav-
ing then exceeded its usual period, and the S.E. winds con-
tinuing with unremitting violence, the sea was observed
to be covered, to the distance of a mile, and in some places
a league from shore, with fish floating on the surface.—
Great quantities of them were at the same time driven on
the beach or left there by the tide, some quite alive, others
dying, but the greatest part quite dead. The fish thus found,
were not of one, but various species, both large and small, flat
and round, the cat-fish and mullet being generally the most
prevalent. The numbers were prodigious, and overspread
the shore to the extent of some degrees; of this I had
ocular proof or certain information, and probably they ex-
tended a considerable way farther than I had an opportu-
nity of making inquiry. Their first appearance was sudden;
but though the numbers diminished, they continued to be
thrown up, in some parts of the coast, for at least a month,
furnishing the inhabitants with food, which, though at-
tended with no immediate ill consequences, probably con-
tributed to the unhealthiness so severely felt. No alteration
in the weather had been remarked for many days previous
to their appearance. The thermometer. stood as usual at
the time of the year, at about 85°.
Various were the conjectures formed as to the cause of
this extraordinary phenomenon, and almost as various and
contradictory were the consequences deduced by the natives
from an omen so portentous ; some inferring the continu-
ance, and others, with equal plausibility, a relief from the
drought. With respect to the cause, I must confess my-
self at a loss to account for it satisfactorily. If I might hazard
a conjecture, and it is not offered as any thing more, I would
suppose, that the sea requires the mixture of a due propor-
tion of fresh water to temper its saline quality, and enable
under, not a little contributed to hasten the fatal effects.—<
The natives also died in greatrnumbers.
In the month of November that year, the dry season hav-
ing then exceeded its usual period, and the S.E. winds con-
tinuing with unremitting violence, the sea was observed
to be covered, to the distance of a mile, and in some places
a league from shore, with fish floating on the surface.—
Great quantities of them were at the same time driven on
the beach or left there by the tide, some quite alive, others
dying, but the greatest part quite dead. The fish thus found,
were not of one, but various species, both large and small, flat
and round, the cat-fish and mullet being generally the most
prevalent. The numbers were prodigious, and overspread
the shore to the extent of some degrees; of this I had
ocular proof or certain information, and probably they ex-
tended a considerable way farther than I had an opportu-
nity of making inquiry. Their first appearance was sudden;
but though the numbers diminished, they continued to be
thrown up, in some parts of the coast, for at least a month,
furnishing the inhabitants with food, which, though at-
tended with no immediate ill consequences, probably con-
tributed to the unhealthiness so severely felt. No alteration
in the weather had been remarked for many days previous
to their appearance. The thermometer. stood as usual at
the time of the year, at about 85°.
Various were the conjectures formed as to the cause of
this extraordinary phenomenon, and almost as various and
contradictory were the consequences deduced by the natives
from an omen so portentous ; some inferring the continu-
ance, and others, with equal plausibility, a relief from the
drought. With respect to the cause, I must confess my-
self at a loss to account for it satisfactorily. If I might hazard
a conjecture, and it is not offered as any thing more, I would
suppose, that the sea requires the mixture of a due propor-
tion of fresh water to temper its saline quality, and enable