The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 316
xvi, 340 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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316 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
in the water, to the upper part of the body of a Spaniard with his
broad brimmed hat, & that it is often hear'd to breathe or blow
heavily. The Indians who are often Superstitious express a dis-
like or abhorrence of the place, seldom going near it, and assert
that the departed Spirits of the first Spaniards who conquered
their Country dwell in the lake. Mr. Nolan informed me that he
was once very near that lake, but knew nothing of it untill some
time after, when he was told the above circumstances. Whether
we are to suppose this a fable invented by the Indians-or that
there really exists an Animal, perhaps the hippopotamus or a non-
=descript, will remain the discovery of a future time.
In my last I gave you an extract from an old book in my pos-
session, containing Dor. Hooks scheme of a telegraph in the year
1684, wondering that the invention of their Countryman had not
been claimed by the English, but I now find I have been antici-
pated in that communication by a paper in the 1st vol. of the Phi-
losophical Magazine p. 312 London.
Your observation of the Lunar rain-bow is entirely new to me,
but I have often observed a Phcenomenon which seems to have
been overlooked by Philosophers; it is slightly noticed in Brydone's
tour through Sicily and Malta Vol. 1. p. 356 2d Edit. London.
This Curious and beautiful phenomenon may be seen every fine
:summer evening in this and perhaps in all other countries, where
.serenity is united to a Cloudless sky. It is caused by the prismatic
effect of the atmosphere upon the Sun's departing rays. Soon after
sun-set a belt of a yellowish orange Color is seen to extend itself
along the eastern horizon, this belt ascends in the same proportion
as the sun ascends, being about one degree in breadth; in contact
with the first appears a second belt below, of a dark blue color &
about the same breadth as the first, both belts being tollerably well
defined and of an uniform Color throughout: when the double
belt has risen a little above the horizon, the azure sky may be seen
below, and as they continue to ascend the belts become fainter,
untill at length the prismatic rays meeting with no vapors suffi-
ciently dense to reflect their colors, the whole phcenomenon dis-
solves into pale celestial light; the belts disappear at about 6 or 7
,of latitude. This phenomenon merits some attention; it exhibits
as upon a skreen that species of light, which after a greater angular
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904, periodical, 1904; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101030/m1/324/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.