METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 167 
This at first appeared suspended from the lower edge 
of the cloud, in the form of a long pointed icicle, widened 
at the base, which gradually extended and enlarged itself in 
a downward direction, until it exhibited a grand column of 
vapour, in every respect like the former, and revolving in 
lke manner. During the latter half of its existence it 
assumed a graceful curve in leu of its perpendicular 
appearance, then gradually disappeared at the exttemities, 
leaving, as before, a whirling centre to disperse slowly in 
the surrounding atmosphere. 
I was surprised to find so little resemblance to anything 
like a volume of water in the appearance of these so-called 
waterspouts; indeed, with the exception of a shower of 
rain which fell from another part of the cloud, I saw 
nothing to induce the belief that water, in the fluid state, 
was present during the phenomenon. On the contrary, the 
scene I had witnessed left an impression on my mind, that 
these waterspouts can be nothing more than the dense 
vapour of a cloud whirled into the form of a hollow tube 
by the force of some revolving squall of wind, thus filling 
the vacuum or centre of such revolving atmosphere to the 
fulness of its height and depth, as it sweeps over the 
surface of the earth—J. L. H. 
Avrora BorEALIs.—At seven o'clock on Monday evening, 
the 29th of September, 1851, the heavens became beauti- 
fully illuminated by the Aurora Borealis, which extended 
over the crest of the intervening hills of the north shore, 
far to the east and west. The lower portion visible from my 
residence, exhibited the usual white light of the Aurora, 
more or less vividly at intervals, and was bounded by a wide 
