84) Mr Williams's account of two 'thunder Storms 



village. Miss Elizabeth Hill and Miss Woodgatc appeared to 

 have died instantly, and Miss Margaret Hill and the rest of 

 the party were much injured. The explosion which followed 

 the flash of lightning was terrific, and alarmed the inhabitants 

 of the village below. Soon after I heard of the accident, I 

 went and examined the hut. I found a large crack on the 

 west side the building, which passed upwards from near the 

 ground to the frame of a small window, above which the iron 

 roof was a little indented. The fragments of stone, when first 

 observed, were all found on the west side the hut, and these 

 were readily distinguished from other loose stones, owing to the 

 lime-wash which coated the exterior surface. I found a few of 

 the larger pieces of stone on the east side also ; but I was in- 

 formed many curious persons had visited the spot before me ; 

 and, after examining and fitting these fragments to the part of 

 the building from whence they had been torn, threw them ca- 

 sually about the hut. 



The following is an account of another storm attended with 

 thunder and lightning. 



" In the night between the 30th of November and the 1st of 

 December 1821 there was a violent gale of wind from the S.W. 

 A mast of a sloop, lying in the river at Newport in Monmouth- 

 shire, was struck by the lightning about twelve feet above the 

 deck and shivered to pieces, and all the splinters were driven to 

 windward.^' 



In these three instances the thunder clouds appear to have 

 been in a negative state of electricity, for, had the stroke of light- 

 ning passed from the clouds downwards, the fragments of stone 

 and splinters of wood would have been scattered in a direction 

 opposite to the storm ; and, from the observations I have made 

 during the last twenty years, I am inclined to think, when ob- 

 jects are struck by lightning, the passing cloud is often nega- 

 tively electrified. When a thunder storm is approaching or is 

 gone past in the day-time, the direction of each stroke may of- 

 ten be seen if not too near the observer, say at a distance of 

 from two to about five miles ; but when it takes place in the 

 night, or very near the place of observation, the sudden great 

 glare of light prevents our seeing the direction of the stroke. In 

 the day-time, at the distance aforesaid, I have often been able 

 most distinctly to trace the direction of the electrical ball ; and 



