A RAIN OF JEWELS.

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 56, 9 March 1929, Page 15

A RAIN OF JEWELS.

On the last night of the old year of 1927 Van- > extraordinary reddish-drab sky overhung : .;the r.city of Melbourne. Tlie\air wait oppressive and birds fluttered wildly here and there. Just after'B o'clock, a heavy storm broke and the strong winds were interspersed with, "red rain." -This rod rain, which fell .for only a short time, discoloured everything. A sticky quality about it made it cling to clothes, cars, andwindows, and it covered .every leaf and' plant. The morning- found everythingtiiiged with red, and.it was.found.that, only a strong force of water would remove it from plant leaves and from flowers. Many gardens looked" ruined," and in cases Avhcre it was impossible to wash, off the red deposit■■' the - plants suffered severely. ■--■■■■ ' ... Now the rod rain/has''becii analysed, and in: it wore found fine sand, tiny particle's of gems such as garnet,' opal, olivine, \augito, felspar, tremolite, quartz, cpidote, and limonite. \ The sticky nature of the : rain is ascribed to plant specks, which must have been whipped up from the surface of pools by the wind. The red dust itself had been carried from the heart of Australia, more than a/.thousand miles away. ■ " Melbourne is not unused to dust storms, and the wonder of the clouds of dust whirling from the-desert to the heart of the city has almost ceased to bo a wonder; but this was the first time the storm-wind brought particles of jewels and plants along with it. ■