PHOTOTYPE PLATE NO. XXXI. 51 



torn up and rolled together like small pebbles on an ordinary beach, until the superficial characters 

 of their corallites are in many instances well-nigh obliterated and their normal irregular contours 

 are ground into sub-spherical symmetry. The fate of the branching Madreporaj, which must 

 have entered largely into the composition of this reef, is suggestively illustrated by the mass of 

 finely triturated material en evidence in the central foreground. This scene of chaos represents 

 the effect of a hurricane of only a few hours' duration. The parallel of such a storm is fortunately 

 unknown in British latitudes at the present day. It is an open question, however, whether 

 similar meteorological conditions did not prevail in that earlier Tertiary period when crocodiles and 

 hippopotami consorted in the Valley of the Thames, or in the more remote European reef-coral- 

 producing days of the Oolitic epoch. On our own south-coast shores, the boulder-heaped expanse 

 of the Chessel beach bears a remarkable general resemblance to the Saddleback Island view, 

 and was, not improbably, primarily fashioned under corresponding cataclysmic conditions. 



It is fortunately possible to fix the precise date of the Saddleback Island storm, it being 

 coincident with a cyclone of exceptional severity that swept through the vicinity of Bowen. A 

 graphic account of it, which appeared at the time in a local paper, is herewith reproduced. It 

 amply accounts for the chaotic coral scene portrayed. — 



A REPORT ON THE CYCLONE AT BOWEN, 30TH JANUARY, 1884. 



By Mr. Christison, Manager of the Poole Lsi.and Meat Freezing Works. 



At eight o'clock p.m. on Tuesday evening, the 2gth of January, 1884, I went my usual rounds over the premises. 



The refrigerating machinery had been working satisfactorily for some days ; four chambers in the freezing house were full 



of quarters of beef, containing in all about 200 carcasses. The temperature of the rooms showed 20° above zero. Two 



of the rooms contained quarters of frozen beef bagged ready to ship on board the Fiado at daybreak on the following 



(Wednesday) morning. The success of this company seemed to be at last assured. At ten o'clock p.m. an ominous 



silence augured a change from the northerly weather which had prevailed for some time past. This silence had lasted 



but a short time when a strong wind rose from a point S. 25° W., increasing in velocity and pursuing a complete circle. 



When it reached S. 45° E., about one a.m. on Wednesday, it blew with terrific violence, the sea rising fully ten feet 



higher than any drift-marks previously seen upon the island. Two miles out to sea, forming two-thirds of a circle, 



there appeared a continuous phosphorescent light, very brilliant, with a background of impenetrable darkness. A 



dashing min was falling with a force of wind so powerful tliat it was impossible to stand without a fast hold of 



something stationary. The night passed, and as day broke the tempest increased, the wind, meanwhile, having 



veered round to N. 20'^ W., leaving but a small space to complete the circle. Man was powerless to attempt 



anything, the convulsed elements warring against each other with maddening din. The cyclone was at its height 



from daylight until noon. The steam launch, punts, and boats were driven from their moorings, and disappeared. 



The jetty, after a gallant tussle with the wind and sea, ne.xt gave way, its massive timbers being broken into fragments 



and driven on to the pumping machinery, constructed to supply the works with 30,000 gallons of sea water per 



hour. By noon the wreck was complete, and although the damage done has not yet been fully ascertained, it 



cannot fall short of ^"12,000. Only to an eye-witness could the full force of this cyclone be realised. Some 



H 2 



