136 Mr. T. Hopkins on the Formation 



the greater part of it from view. Any ship that was on this 

 part of the sea, and not too far off, seemed to be floating in the 

 air. As the sun became more powerful, a transparent space 

 appeared between the water and the mist above it, and the 

 mist began to take more decidedly the appearance of dense 

 cloud. This transparent space by degrees enlarged, and the 

 cloud as it rose became nearly a straight line or stripe. Be- 

 tween eight and nine o'clock little irregular protuberances or 

 cones began to appear on the upper portion of the stripe of 

 cloud. These cones by degrees swelled and enlarged their 

 sizes, both vertically and horizontally. By placing my eye 

 against a fixed object and looking along a line, I could see the 

 gradual swelling of the masses. They had rough irregular 

 cauliflower-like tops, and the particular forms varied as they 

 grew larger. The lower part of the cloud at the same time 

 preserved its horizontal level, but became darker in appear- 

 ance. This process continued until large cumuli were formed, 

 extending over the sea apparently from the Welsh to the 

 Westmoreland hills. While this was going on the whole mass 

 rose, and by twelve o'clock was at a considerable elevation, the 

 upper part of which looked like a number of heaps of fleecy 

 cotton wool piled into irregular hills. Under the highest of 

 these hills the cloud was the darkest, and the swelling move- 

 ment in them resembled that seen in smoke issuing from a 

 chimney, but was much slower. The light west or south-west 

 wind, which generally prevailed, carried these masses of cloud 

 eastward, where they seemed to accumulate and become 

 darker. About noon, or shortly after, we commonly had two 

 distinct ridges of fine bold cumuli, one extending across the 

 sea, apparently from the great Orme's Head to the Westmore- 

 land hills, and the other stretching over Wales and Cheshire 

 to the Yorkshire hills. Recollecting the clouds which I had 

 noticed forming about the sides and top of Snowdon, I was 

 strongly impressed with the idea that these ridges came from 

 Snowdon and the other mountains in its vicinity. About the 

 same time of the day that I had formerly observed Snowdon 

 to become clear from mist, namely, about two or three o'clock 

 in the afternoon, these clouds generally ceased to come from 

 that quarter, and those already formed rose higher, and 

 seemed disposed to separate into detached masses. Later in 

 the afternoon they became lighter, and generally dissolved 

 gradually, the whole frequently disappearing a little after sun- 

 set. When the clouds were very heavy a different result was 

 witnessed, as they joined together and gave out sprinklings of 

 rain, and showers afterwards fell more or less frequently 

 during ths night. Over the lands of Lancashire and Cheshire 



