DISTINCTION BETWEP:N TORNADOES AND TEMPESTS. 455 



of one liiiudred men ; two were frozen to deatli, and npward of tliirty 

 badly frostbitten in tbeir extremities. Tbe snow filled the air to snch 

 an extent that the conrse conld only be followed by keeping at a certain 

 angle with the wind, or, in. other words, by adopting the direction of the 

 wind as a course of reference. 



"The mnle is a less hardy animal than the horse, and often freezes 

 standing, so that at first sight, and at a little distance, they appear alive 

 and rnminating, but might be pushed over in a. solid condition, the legs 

 stretched ontlike the legs of an overtnrned table. In summer the horses 

 and mules are fed on grass, which is very sweet and nutritious, I 

 had about eight hundred head of oxen, and one thousand sheep. The 

 best meat was that from the old cattle which had l)een pastured for 

 about a year." 



Remarks. — The facts which Colonel Collins has here stated are inter- 

 esting in regard to general meteorology. The existence of the constant 

 wind from the west, in these elevated passes, is in strict accordance 

 with the assumption of a return trade-wind, giving rise to a constant 

 westerly current at elevated points in the temperate zone. It is this 

 wind which carries all the meteorological phenomena, eastward in the 

 temperate zone, and thus forms the basis of the prediction of the 

 weather. 



That the snow should be very fine is also in accordance with the fact 

 of the small quantity of moisture in the air and the intense cold. The 

 snow, for the same reason, is small in quantity on the plains. The 

 absence of thunder-storms is also in accordance with the fact of the 

 small amount of moisture in the air. 



The cloud-cap mentioned is probably produced in a similar manner to 

 that at Table Mountain at the Cape of Good II()i)e, by a moist wind 

 blowing over the top of the mountain, which, on ascending to a certain 

 elevation, precipitates its moisture in the form of visible vapor, which is 

 again dissolved on descending the other side, producing the api)earance 

 of a stationary cloud, though it is constantly in the process of forming 

 on one side and dissolving on the other. — [J. H.l 



DISTINCTION BETWEEN TOKNABOES AND TEMPESTS. 



Lamark, in a paper ])ublished many years ago in the Journal de 

 2)hijsiqHe et cldmic^ points' out the distinctions between a tornado and 

 a tempest. The following, according to him, are the characteristics of 

 the tornado : 



' 1. The effects produced at the surface of the earth take place under 

 an isolated cloud which moves with the storm, and is in some way con- 

 nected with the disturbance of the atmosphere which constitutes the 

 phenomenon. 



2. The tornado moves over the surface of the earth in a narrow path. 



