METEOROLOGY. 465 



meteors tliat they rotate around an area of calm of variable extension. The 

 central calm in question niig-ht be from three to four miles in diameter, judging 

 from the interval between the subsidence of the wind from the north and the 

 commencing violence of that from the west ; of which precise moment the gal- 

 lant and sagacious commander of the steamship Vasco Nunez de Balboa knew 

 how to avail himself in order to pass from the shore to that vessel, at the risk 

 of perishing if this centre of calm had been of two minutes less diuation. 

 The diameter of the hurricane I take to have been from 40 to 50 miles, and 

 that of its greatest force some 20, since in this port and that of Arroyo it was 

 felt with less intensity than at other points more inland and distant from those 

 places 15 to 20 miles. That the disturbance is of a circular form, or of a cur- 

 vature approaching that figure, is once more shown by the circumstance of the 

 wind's blowing at the same time in two distinct points, which may be considered 

 as diametrical!}^ opposed in regard to the centre or focus of opposite rhombs ; 

 for example, at the same hour when, at Porto Rico, the direction was from NE. 

 to E.NE., at AiTovo it was from W. to SW., at Salinas from W. to S., and at 

 Naguabo to the S. 



" We have at present no notices of the passage of the hurricane beyond the 

 western part of St. Domingo, which leads us to think that it terminated in that 

 island or pursued a course more to the north, leaving the south of Cuba for- 

 tunately unvisited, and arriving at the coasts of Florida ; a route which these 

 storms generally follow as far as the eastern part of the New World, where they 

 subside. 



'' Barometers fell, at St. Thomas to 28.20 ; in this port (at the Captainship) 

 to 29.60 ; on board the schooner Andaluza to 29.60 ; at Arroyo to 29.40. We 

 have not been able to verify the state of the atmosphere at other points of this 

 island ; the instruments, it would seem, not having acted with the promptness 

 usually observed, and the descent having only commenced when the tempest 

 was near at hand ; wdiich may have happened from their having been, for some 

 days, lower than ordinary under nomial circumstances, and from the influence 

 of the n(n-th winds wdiich had been prevailing before the hurricane, so that the 

 latter exerted not a mediate, but an immediate influence. As regards exten- 

 sion, I consider this hurvjcaue to have been one of the narrowest kind, as in 

 general such disturbances have a larger diameter by some miles and embrace a 

 proportionably wider zone. 



OBSERVATIONS REGARDING THE EARTHQUAKES WHICH OCCURRED IN ST. 

 THOMAS AND NEIGHBORING ISLANDS, COMMENCING NOV. 18, 1867. 



By George A. Latimer. 



The earthquakes which began on 18th Novembei-, 1867, andhave since been fre- 

 quent, seem to have had their origin by the bursting out of a submarine volcano 

 in the sea somewhere about or between the Danish islands of St. Thomas and 

 St. Croix. The reasons for this opinion are : 



1. The great wave which soon followed the first heavy shocks was seen for 

 some time rolling on towards St. Thomas and Porto Rico, from the south to 

 the north, while at the same moment another similar wave (perhaps even larger 

 than the first) rolled on towards St. Croix, from the north to the south ; thus 

 showing that the volcanic eruption which caused them had occurred in the sea 

 somewhere between those two islands, and that the force sent the water in both 

 directions. 



2. It is historical that some 75 years ago the small island of Saba, (Little 

 Saba, as it is called,) just west of the harbor of St. Thomas, was an active 

 volcano, and on the 18th and 19th November last emitted smoke 5 thus showing 

 the volcanic action was not distant. 



3U s67 



