116 ies Os RAYY Sor 
ftream, as if it had been impelled through the hofe of a 
fire engine, and the ftream accordingly ended in a thick 
mift, refembling a dark fmoke; the furface of the water, 
round about the fpot from whence it rofe, being greatly 
agitated, as is ufual in thofe phenomena. In its courfe it 
met with the hull of a new fhip of about one hundred tons, 
which was-much fhaken by it, but received no hurt. In 
pafling over the flats it took hold of a boat which was 
faftened to an anchor, whirled both boat and anchor to 
{ome height in the air, and rent the boat ‘ from the head . 
“ to the keel.” When it reached the fhore it lifted up an- 
other boat about fix feet from the ground, letting it fall 
again upfidedown; and had a ftrange effect upon a parcel 
of planks, fome of which were raifed up perpendicularly, 
and ftood upon their ends while it paffled along; and in 
its further progrefs it was attended with the ufual effects 
of a whirlwind, fuch as ftripping off, not only thatch, but 
fheets of lead from the tops of houfes, and tearing off the 
limbs of trees. This account may tend to confirm the 
theory here offered, as it proves to a demonftration, that 
the water fpout therein defcribed, was occafioned by a pre 
vious whirlwind in the atmofphere ; which whirlwind was 
alfo occafioned by the rufhing of a large quantity of air, 
upwards, from all quarters near the furface of the earth, 
through a very contraéted aerial paflage, towards the top 
of the atmofphere; the narrownefs of which paflage, as 
determinable from the effects obferved in its progrefs, fhews 
it to have been comprefled upon all fides by a general con- 
flux of oppofite currents of air; as the rufhing of the air 
through it with fuch violence from beneath, does, that the 
denfity of the fluid and the compreflive force of the cur- 
rents were greateft there. The afcending air carried up 
the water with it through the fame paflage; not by any 
mechanical operation upon it, like the action of a fcrew of 
any kind; but, merely, by taking off the preflure of the 
atmofphere from the furface of the water dire@tly under 
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