vations are all perfectly correct; I would therefore wish that the agricultural committee would make the necessary enquiries, to ascertain how far they are so, and particularly in regard to the species and varieties of the Walnut of our country. This I apprehend will be best done by applying for information, to some of the learned gentlemen who are an honor to the state of Pennsylvania, and particularly our celebrated botanist, Doctor Muhlenbergh.

N. B. The lamented death of Doctor Muhlenbergh, has prevented the agricultural committee from obtaining from him the information suggested in the close of this communication. The committee therefore invite the attention of the other botanists of our country to this subject. And the society will gratefully receive from them every information tending to clear it from the obscurity in which it seems to be involved.

A remarkable Phænomenon which frequently appears off the Cape of Good Hope.

Communicated

BY JACOB GREEN.

Read before the Society, April 18th, 1815.

The following account of a remarkable phænomenon, familiar to sailors by the name of "The Flying Dutchman"* is extracted from a letter written by a gentleman in New-York to his friend in this city. As the story is well authenticated, and as no similar description is published as far as I can learn, I think it worthy of your attention.

CAPT. KEARNEY, on a voyage from NewYork to the East-Indies, thus related what occurred on board the ship Fortitude---At a little past 8 o'clock, in the evening, bearing off the Cape of Good Hope, the weather at that time fine and clear, he heard a rumor on deck that a sail was in sight, (he had himself turned into his birth, as it was his watch below) as the two vessels approached each other, Capt. Kearney, who was now on deck, wishing to speak the ship, took in sail, and just as he was in the act of laying his topsail to the mast, the strange ship, apparently within hail disappeared in an instant. This, as may be supposed, excited much astonishment and created some confusion on board,

The name arose from a tradition that a Dutch vessel foundered on this coast, and that her phantom makes its appearance, at certain periods.

and so persuaded was Captain Kearney of the reality of what he had seen, that for the space of two hours he lay too with his ship, at intervals firing guns as signals for the boat of the stranger to find him, as his conclusion was that from some accident she had foundered, and that the crew would attempt to save themselves by their boats. No boats however made their appearance, nor was there from the time the ship was discovered until she disappeared, the least noise to be heard.

Mr. Rowland Craig relates a similar circumstance in nearly the same manner. He was supercargo of the ship Northern Liberties, bound to the East Indies. In the first of the evening and in almost the same situation with the former, a sail was descried standing down towards them. All hands were called, and the ship was cleared for action, she came so near that they were fearful she would run aboard of them, she was hailed in English and in French, but returned no answer, nor was the least noise to be heard on board of her, although they were so near as apparently to be able to heave a biscuit on her deck. To their utter astonishment she disappeared in an instant, no one knew how or where.

I have besides heard many sailors declare that they witnessed the same thing, and indeed from the proofs we have I think there can be little doubt of the fact, although, did I not believe it might be satisfactorily accounted for, without a contravention of the laws of nature, I should require much stronger testimony.

There are I think two ways by which it may be explained-by the reflection and the refraction of light, or what is generally called by sailors, the looming of objects, the latter I have frequently observed on our coast to be productive of very singular effects; through a kind of medium not unlike the heat which rises from a hot stove, distant objects are brought very near, and made to assume the most grotesque appearances, as the vapour condenses or is dispersed; the object is lifted from the horizon, and is generally inverted in the air. Through the medium of this vapour I have seen the land so plainly as to recognize its figure; and it appeared to be no tmore than 6 or 8 miles from me, when by the coming up of a breeze that dispelled the vapour and cleared the atmosphere, the land has disappeared, and not until after some sailing have I again discovered it, wearing the same appearance as when first seen. Might we not imagine that the peculiar formation of the land where the flying Dutchman is observed, produces this phoenomenon. The well known story of the man reflected from a mountain in Sicily, and indeed numerous other facts prove at least that reflection may be a possible cause."

I think it proper to add to this an account of the Fata Morgana, which sometimes appear from the

*NOTE.

The following account of a similar phenomenon, will be interesting:

"On the 27th of August last, while the Majestic, Capt. Hayes, was cruising off Boston, a strange figure was perceived in the eastern horizon about two o'clock in the

harbour of Messina and the adjacent places, both, no doubt, being produced from the same causes.

"This singular meteor has been described by various authors; but the first who mentioned it with any degree of precision was Father Angelucci, whose account is thus quoted by Mr. Swinburne in his Tour through Sicily; "On the 15th of August, 1643, as I stood at my window, I was surprised with a most wonderful delectable vision. The sea that washes the Sicilian shore swelled up, and became, for ten miles in length, like a chain of dark mountains, while the waters near our Calabrian coast grew quite smooth, and in an instant appeared as

morning, which, as the sun rose, gradually became more distinguishable, and at last, assumed the perfect appearance of a man dressed in a short jacket and half boots, with a staff in his hand; at the top of which was a colour hanging over his head marked with two lines, perpendicularly drawn at equal distances, and strongly resembling the French flag. The figure continued visible as long as the rays of the sun would permit it to be looked at. On the 28th, the next day, the figure displayed itself in the same posture, but rather broken. On the following morning, it seemed entirely disjointed, and faded into shadow, until at last, nothing more could be seen than three marks on the sun's disk. Capt. Hayes, his officers and about 200 of the crew witnessed the spectacle, both with the naked eye and through glasses. In superstitious times, such a a phenomenon would have been construed into a providential warning or ominous token of some unexpected event; in this enlightened age, however, it may be easily accounted for by the reflective power of the atmosphere, which is well known to be wonderful. Most probably the figure represented was some one ashore, or on the deck of the Majestic."--London paper.