: 
TRANSAOTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 45 
these were masses of nimbi that came flvating from the S.W., from which quarter 
the wind was blowing with a force of 046 lbs. ; deep mutterings of thunder were 
heard: and lightning was seen to flash vividly, upwards, from the summit of the 
clouds along their whole breadth, or from N. to S.K. 
At 6 45™.—The wind changed from S.W. to S., and the clouds in the N.E. 
and E. became more threatening in their appearance ; and at this period the light- 
ning, which was of a brilliant purple colour and very vivid, flashed continually ; 
each flash was followed by loud peals of thunder. The character of the lightning 
in this second appearance was more terrific than before, as every flash was vertical, 
and several times these vertical streams were visible simultaneously, and as many as 
five were distinctly counted, at irregular distances from each other, varying from 2° 
to 12°. 
At 7" 30".—Rain began to fall in large drops; the thunder and lightning in- 
creasing till 9" 00", when the wind moved round to N.E. (by E.), and the whole 
of the sky presented one dark mass of nimbi; the thunder and lightning still conti- 
nuing. 
At 9» 15™.—A gale of wind came on from the N.E. with a force of nearly 6 lbs. ; 
and at 9" 20™ it reached its maximum force, which was nearly 9 lbs. ; the whole 
time which it lasted was about 20 minutes. During this gale the barometer rose 
(instead of falling) to 29°920, or about 0°1 of an inch above its true level ; when the 
gale was over, it rapidly descended to nearly its former readings, as will be seen from 
the accompanying observations of the meteorological instruments; at 105 40" the 
wind became due north. 
The thunder and lightning continued, but at greater intervals ; and the rain falling 
till midnight, at which time the rain ceased. But the thunder and lightning may be 
said to have continued all night. 
From the peculiar rise of the barometer during the worst part of the gale, it is 
supposed that a heavy storm was felt somewhere on the mainland to the E.N.E. ; 
and the gale which we felt was only the momentum that the air received when 
rushing towards that place ; it is also possible that the storm was raging there very 
heavily at sunset. During the worst part of the gale the temperature suddenly de- 
creased 10°. ; 
It may be here remarked, that during the continuance of the gale, which was felt 
_ along the coast, and very slightly in Bombay, in April last year, our magnetic in- 
struments remained perfectly steady ; but as soon as the gale passed away, they be- 
came disturbed, and continued so for 54 hours. This year precisely the same re- 
markable phenomena have taken place, as during the whole time of the meteoro- 
logical disturbance of the last few days they remained steady, but at 8 o’clock this 
morning they became disturbed (or the magnetic storm commenced), and continue 
so up to the present time. 
The rising of the barometer with the storm and the falling after it; the magnetic 
- instruments remaining quiescent during the storm, and being disturbed after it ; and 
the sudden fall of temperature of 10°, are all sufficiently remarkable facts. Upon 
the above return Dr. Buist observes,—‘‘ The disclosures made are singular; the 
wind on the morning of the 6th blew from 8.S.E., an unusual quarter; from this it 
swept round by S. and S.W. to N.N.W., and then moved back again to W.S.W., 
where it remained till evening. It then set first to S.W., and then veered round to 
S. From this it travelled round in an easterly direction to N.E., E.N.E., N.N.E., 
and so swept back by E. to S.,—having in the course of twenty-four hours twice 
swept round three-quarters of a circle and so swept back again, leaving the segment 
betwixt W.N.W. and N.E. untouched. At ten o’clock (P.m.), when the storm was at 
its wildest, the barometer actually rose instead of falling, and that by no less than about 
00°08 above the level due to ten o’clock, interpolating from the readings of nine and 
eleven. The diurnal curve, indeed, is remarkable. On the 6th the mercury reached 
its maximum elevation at eleven A.M. instead of a quarter before ten—the average 
hour for maximum, and its afternoon minimum at three instead of a quarter past 
four; so that instead of six hours and a half, the usual time, there was less than 
four hours of an interval between the epochs of maxima and minima. These things 
are of very great importance as subjects of attention, considering the smallness and 
extreme inequality of our range. It attained its maximum at the proper hour, ten 
