350 ANNl/AL REGISTER, 1753.
Mr. William Brown, mafler of the grammar-fchool at Scarroway in that country, a fenfible and obTerv- Jng man ; wherein he writes ver- batim as follows: *' Blefled be God, r.otwithltanding the great devaf- taiions that have been made in other parts of the world by earth- quakes, we have been entirely free from any difallcr of that nature: Nor has ^ny thing extraordinary happened in this country fince you left it, only on Monday, Oc- tober 20th !ait, between the hours of three and four in the after- noon, the Iky being very hazy, as it life? to be before a ftorm of thunder and lightning, there fell a black dull over all the coun- try, though in greater quantities in fome places than in others. It was very much like lamp-bhck, but fmelled ftron<^ly of fulphur. People in the fields had their laces, hands, and linen blackened by it. It was followed by rain. — Some people alTign the caufe of it to fome extraordinary eruption of Hecb. But I fliall trouble you ISO more about it, as no doubt fome of your friends have writ- ten to you of it fome time ago,"—
in June, 1756, I returned to Zetland; and upon further en- quiry, found what Mr. Brown had written to me was artefted by Mr. Mitchell, parfon of the pariih of Tengwall, and by feveral gentle- men of credit and reputation, who had feeii and obferved the fame pha:nomenon in different parts of the country at the time above- mentioned.
Mr. Brown having ofritted to mention how the wind did blovv at the time the black dull was cbfsrved, i made particular en-
quiry about that circumllancc, and found it was from the S. W. which does not feem to favour the opinion, that the duft pro- ceeded from an eruption of mount Hecla, which lies about N. W, from Zetland, unlefs it may be fuppofsd that a north wind hap- pening ju!> befure, had carried this duft to the fouthward, and the fouth-well wind immediately fol- lowing had brought it back to the northward. But in this cafe, would not this black duft have been obferved in Zetland at its firft travelling to the fouthward ? Upon enquiry, i did not hear ic was.
^he method of culti-vating madder in England, from many expert - menis, made in the courfe of thirty ye.irs, en the culture of that ufeful plant. Extracled from a treatife lately publijked on that fubjcS^ by Philip Miller, F.R. S.
^~* H I S piece is dedicated to Lord Folkftone, prefident of the fociety for the encourage- ment of arts, manufaftures, and commerce. The author, in hi» preface, imputes the total negled:^ of cultivating madder in England, for a great number of yea;-s, to the many difpuces cccafioned about afcertaining the tithes upon it ; a ncg!e«fl the Dutch availed them- felves of, by whom it is culti- vated with the utmoft diligence, and alnioil monopolized. This ingredient is fo very ellentlal in dying of cloth and ftaining of lintD, that neither can be carried on without it ; and the Dutth have receiv«d from us, for many
year*
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