Abstract
LEAVING the port of Kingston, Jamaica, at dusk on November 23, 1885, the night was fine and starlit overhead, but about 8 p.m. a heavy bank of cloud obscured the island, and all around the upper edges of this cloud-bank brilliant flashes of light were incessantly bursting forth, sometimes tinged with prismatic hues, while intermittently would shoot vertically upwards continuous darts of light displaying prismatic colours in which the complementary tints, crimson and green, orange and blue, predominated. Sometimes these darts of light were projected but a short distance above the cloud-bank, but at others they ascended to a considerable altitude, resembling rockets more than lightning. This state of matters continued until about 9.30 p.m., when all display of light ceased. As I have never seen such a phenomenon in any other part of the world, I have deemed it an unusual occurrence, and worthy of record.
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MACKENZIE, T. Meteorological Phenomena. Nature 33, 245 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/033245e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/033245e0
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