ACCOUNT OF a' HAIL-STORM IN THE BOSPHORUS. 475 



ACCOTOT OF A HAIl-STORM ON THE BOSPUOEUS. 



From Porter's (Commodore) ConstantiuoiAe, 1835, Vol. I,pp- 43-47. 



[Our attention lias been called to the following account of a remark- 

 able hailstorm. x)ublisbed iu the letters of the late Commodore Porter, 

 of the United States iSTavy, a work now out of print and not likely to 

 meet tbe eye of meteorologists. — J. H.] 



On our way from the residence of the minister to meet tbe Eois 

 Eftendi, at Candalie, balf way between this and Constantinople, and a 

 few minutes after leaving tbe landing, I witnessed a scene tbe most 

 awful and appalling that tbe imagination can depict. 



In a six-oared kaick, tbe American miuister, bis secretary, t&c, and 

 myself, witb bis kervoss, started witb tbe treaty and regalia of about 

 thirty thousand dollars worth of snuff-boxes, which you might have i)ut 

 in your coat x)ocket. We bad got perhaps a mile and a half on our 

 way, when a cloud rising in the west gave indication of aii approach- 

 ing rain. In a few minutes we discovered something falling from tbe 

 heavens witb a heavy splash, and of a whitish appearance. I could not 

 conceive what it was, but observing some gulls near, 1 supposed them 

 to be darting for fish ; but soon after discovered thnt they were large 

 balls of ice falling. Immediately we heard a sound like rumbling thun- 

 der, or ten thousand carriages rolling furiously over the pavement. 

 The whole Bospborus was in a foam, as though heaven's artillery had 

 been discharged upon us and our frail machine. Our fate seemed inev- 

 itable ; our umbrellas were raised to protect us ; the lum[)S of ice stripped 

 them into ribands. We fortunately bad a bullock's hide in the boat, 

 under which we crawled and saved ourselves from further injury. One 

 man, of the three oarsmen, bad bis band literally smashed ; another 

 much injured in the shoulder; Mr. H. received a severe blow in the leg; 

 my right band was somewhat disabled, and all more or less injured. 



A smaller kaick accompanied, with my two servants. They were 

 both disabled, and are now in bed with their v/ounds ; the kaick Vv'as 

 terribly bruised. It was the most awful and terrific scene that I ever 

 witnessed, and God forbid that I should ever be exposed to such another. 

 Balls of ice as large as my two fists fell into the boat, and some of them 

 came with such violence as certainly to have broken an arm or a leg, 

 had they struck us iu those parts. One of them struck tbe blade of an 

 oar and split it. The scene lasted, may be, five minutes ; but it was 

 five minutes of the most awful feeling that I ever experienced. When 

 it passed over we found the surrounding hills covered with masses of 

 ice, I cannot call it hail ; the trees stripped of their leaves and limbs, 



