A WELSH MOUNTAIN ON FIRE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3637, 9 March 1883, Page 4

A WELSH MOUNTAIN ON FIRE.

A correspondent Avrites to the Western Mail calling attention to a curious phenomenon, Avhieh, although Avell knoAvn in tho immediate district in "which it exists, will bo new to many readers. Ho says;— "I happened io bo making a tour a few days ago through the Rhondda Valley, and

as I was passing the Cwm Park Mountain I noticed what at a little distance appeared to me to be a small bonfire about half way up its side. Not seeing anyone in the vicinity of the fire, curiosity prompted me to climb the barren hill to see what was being burned. After struggling through a good deal of mud and over marshy ground, I reached the firs, when, to my surprise, I found that the flames Avere not caused _by the burning of rubbish or any other visible substance." The fire flamed up through about three square feet of barren earth, which wits hot and parched, except where covered with what tit first seemed to be boiling water. Upon closer examination I found that only the witter near the centre of the fire approached anything like boiling heat, the rest being iv some places lukewarm, and iv others quite cold. I was sorely puzzled at first to account for this difference of temperature in the water, for it all boiled aud bubbled with equal violence. As I happened to have a walking -stick in my hand I drove it into the earth two or three inches away from any spot from which fire issued, when, to my astonishment, flames shot up from this newly-made hole at least a foot high. I repented the experiment, two or three times with the same result. It seemed as though a fierce fire existed under this small patch of ground. The thing that puzzled me the most was the non-existence of any cracks or holes in the ground except those which I had myself made. The earth belched forth fire without opening its mouth. I had not been many seconds lit this spot before 1 discovered that I vvtis to leeward of the flames, for I washalisuffoeatedbyasulphurous gassy stench, which escaped from the flames. I shifted my ground, and after considerable deliberation"" eanic to the conclusion that this extraordinary phenomenon was caused by the continuous escape of subterranean gas through a deep fissure in the rocks. Subsequent inquiries in the- neighborhood proved that my conjecture was right. The inhabitants of'the district say that the _ gas ascends through a fissure in the rocks from a seam of coal' several hundred feet below the surface, and that it was set on fire many veisrs ago by some unknown person, aud has burned continuously ever since. I also learned that this is not an unique phenomenon in the district. A smaller jet of gas. I was fold, has been burning for some years near the head of the Rhondda 'Valley. I_ could not, however, spare time to ascertain the truth of this statement. To witness the earth on lire is, no doubt, astonishing, but it. can hardly bo compared with the phenomenon which a fellow traveller _informed me exists near Aberdare. Near that town gas from a seam of coal forces itself up through a fissure in the rocks, and through the surface of the earth and the waters of a stream. It hits been ropeatcdly lighted. when a large spot on the water through which the gas bubbled seemed to be on lire, just as the ground appeared to me on Cwm Park Mountain. My informant, however, stated that in the former instance the discharge of gas was intermittent, and that consequently, the fire went out at intervals, whereas, far as I could learn, the fire on the mountain has been burning for something like forty or fifty years, and Las iv that time materially increased inbody nnd force. Indeed, so strong is it now, that considerable difficulty. I should imagine, would be experienced" in extinguishing it. It certainly forms a notable feature in the landscape at night, and gives a kind of weird aspect to the scene. The inhabitants, however, seem particularly attached to their curious night-light."