190 ON A REMARKABLE SHOWER OF HAIL 



the half of this depth, yet not only were the crops of every kind 

 utterly beaten down, but not a vestige of them was for some time 

 to be seen. The astounded farmer saw only " fields of rough 

 " ice." All this destructive change had been accomplished 

 in less than ten minutes. 



Alarmed by the " horrid cries," very different from the usual 

 bellowing, of some black cattle, which had been grazing on 

 pasture-land at some distance, Caithness attempted to wade 

 out among the hailstones in the direction of the cattle. The 

 " loose ice," he says, slipped below his feet, and sometimes 

 reached to his knees. In this way his legs were so much cut 

 by its sharp edges, that he was soon obliged to desist, and 

 to wait till the ground began to appear, by the melting 

 of the hail. The pieces of ice he describes as of various 

 shapes : most of them were round like eggs ; many were flat- 

 tened, and not unlike " thick clumsy oyster-shells;" some 

 were nearly smooth on the surface, others very ragged and 

 jaggy. Some of these appearances probably arose from the 

 hailstones being partly dissolved. Mr Taylor likewise re- 

 marks, that some " were as finely polished as marble-bowls, 

 " while others were irregular, and apparently made up of pie- 

 " ces of conglomerated ice." Mr Taylor regrets that he did 

 not immediately weigh some of the largest balls, before they 

 began to melt ; for he was unluckily not provided with a gra- 

 duated jar, with which to ascertain the liquid contents. He 

 adds, however, that he " had presence of mind to measure 

 " some of the largest lumps," and that several of them were 

 about six inches in circumference. Mr Caithness thinks, that 

 the largest pieces of ice which he lifted, might weigh from 

 four ounces to nearly half a pound : but he adds, what was ex- 

 tremely natural, that, at the moment, he thought only of the 

 damage his farm had suffered, and it never entered into his 



mind 



