118 cook's second voyage may, 



these spouts lasted, we had, now and then, light puffs 

 of wind from all points of the compass ; with some 

 few slight showers of rain, which generally fell in 

 large drops ; and the weather continued thick and 

 hazy, for some hours after, with variable light breezes 

 of wind. At length the wind fixed in its old point, 

 and the sky resumed its former serenity. Some of 

 these spouts appeared, at times, to be stationary ; 

 and, at other times, to have a quick, but very unequal, 

 progressive motion, and always in a crooked line, 

 sometimes one way, and sometimes another ; so that, 

 once or twice, we observed them to cross one 

 another. From the ascending motion of the bird, 

 and several other circumstances, it was very plain to 

 us that these spouts were caused by whirlwinds, and 

 that the water in them was violently hurried up- 

 wards, and did not descend from the clouds, as I 

 have heard some assert. The first appearance of 

 them is by the violent agitation and rising up of the 

 water 3 and, presently after, you see a round column 

 or tube forming from the clouds above, which ap- 

 parently descends till it joins the agitated water 

 below. I say apparently, because I believe it not to 

 be so in reality, but that the tube is already formed 

 from the agitated water below, and ascends, though 

 at first it is either too small or too thin to be seen. 

 When the tube is formed, or becomes visible, its 

 apparent diameter increaseth, until it is pretty large ; 

 after that, it decreaseth, and, at last, it breaks or be- 

 comes invisible towards the lower part. Soon after the 

 sea below resumes its natural state, and the tube is 

 drawn, by little and little, up to the clouds, where it is 

 dissipated. The same tube would sometimes have a 

 vertical, and sometimes a crooked or inclined direc- 

 tion. The most rational account I have read of 

 water-spouts is in Mr. Falconer's Marine Dictionary, 

 which is chiefly collected from the philosophical 

 writings of the ingenious Dr. Franklin. I have been 



