1 6 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena, 



The hurricanes of August 30th and 31st, I intend to con- 

 sider in detail by and by : for the present, we may observe, 

 that, on the 20th, there was a hurricane off the coast of Fin- 

 land ; and in lat. 35° s., long. 21° e.; on the 17th, at Guada- 

 loupe; on the 14-th and 15th, at Antigua ; on the 14th, violent 

 gales at Bermuda, Quebec, and Lancaster Sound ; on the 

 4th, off the Cape of Good Hope ; and on the 1st, off Cuttack. 

 The gales of June 11. and 12. have already been alluded 

 to (M. N. H., vi. 307. ), and attributed to volcanic influence 

 (M.N.H., vii. 201.). 



May 21. 1833, was celebrated by a most furious hurricane, 

 from the n. e., at Calcutta *, destroying thousands of lives f ; 

 and also at New Orleans, of almost equal intensity, from 

 the N.w. These hurricanes, occurring simultaneously, and 

 in such a violent manner, at a distance of 1 78° longitude, are 

 also especially remarkable. Some time in May, there occurred 

 a most furious hurricane in Nova Zembla, which blew three 

 days from the north so tremendously, that Lieut. Pechtussoff, 

 of the Russian navy, who experienced it (he being on a 

 journey of exploration there), was compelled to lie on his 

 face the whole time in the snow. (Galignani's Messenger.) 



The hurricane of April 17-, in lat. 28° s., 52° e., brings up 

 our account for 1833 to the hurricane of Feb. 19., alluded to 

 before (M. N. H. } vi. 307.); and closes our calendar of 

 gales. 



In commenting upon them, I may observe that the word 

 hurricane has been indiscriminately used for want of more 

 specific terms ; and because, as I shall show, all violent storms 

 of wind partake the character of a real hurricane, so far as 

 their motion is concerned. J On comparing the accounts of 

 violent gales, in different authors, it appears, that they most 

 frequently range round a great part of the compass during 

 their continuance ; often beginning in the quarter towards 

 which they finally blow. 



* The wind blows, at Calcutta, generally from the south during May. 

 (Asiatic Researches.) It is the season of the s.w. monsoon. 



-f- A writer in the Indian Gazette states that many thousands of men, 

 women, and children " are to be found wandering about, in a state of nudity 

 and starvation, in bands of one or two hundred, existing on the grasses 

 and herbs of the field," the " consequence of the gale that occurred in May, 

 last year" (Asiatic Journal, xv. 141.) The ship Duke of York was only 

 floated in the spring of 1834 from the place she was driven to on the sands 

 during the hurricane. 



J " The tempest is, both in cause and effect, the same as a hurricane. 

 The storm, or what English seamen call a hard gale, is, I believe, nearly 

 the same. I shall, therefore, use these words synonymously." (Capper, 

 On Winds.) 



