METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 163 
Unusual Fatt or Raty.—On the night of the 7th of 
June, 1850, and until daylight on the following morning, 
the rain descended in a tropical deluge upon the Bermudas. 
This heavy rain was accompanied with distant thunder and 
lightning. White’s Marsh, near my residence, was flooded 
with water, and Mr. W. B. Smith, the Receiver-General of 
the Islands, informed me, that on the same night, a large 
tank, which he built under his residence at Riddle’s 
Bay five and twenty years before, overflowed with water 
for the first time since its construction. Previous to this 
event the catch of water had never reached within some 
feet of the upper margin of the tank. As another proof of 
the unusual quantity of rain which fell on that occasion, 
I was told, on excellent authority, that twenty-five tons of 
water were obtained on board the “Tenedos” convict hulk 
that night, and all from the catch of her own roof—J. L. H. 
FresH WATER Sources—It is not uncommon to hear 
the native inhabitants of the Bermudas speak of their 
“Springs of Fresh Water.” Now, this is merely a facon de 
porter, for in reality there is not the smallest rill of running 
water in those islands; the so-called “springs” being 
nothing more than wells sunk a few feet in depth on the 
lower levels, particularly along the edge of the north-shore. 
From these, a supply of water is obtained which can be 
used for ordinary purposes, though the water in them is 
subject to rise and fall with the action of the tides.* 
There can be little doubt that these wells are supplied 

* It is true that small underground rills of water are sometimes met 
with in draining the marsh lands near the level of the sea, towards which 
they invariably run. 
