36 REPORT— 1855. 



one immense block, measucing four and a half feet in length, three feet in breadth, 

 and eighteen inches in thickness, was found in a dry well. 



Hailstorm at Kandy (Ceylon) on the 15th of March, 1852. 

 Lat. 7° 17' N., long. 80° 36' E. 

 Kandy (Ceylon). — " On Monday (15th) afternoon, on a sudden the town assumed a 

 dismal appearance, and heavy showers of rain commenced to fall, accompanied by 

 peels of thunder. The wind blew with such irresistible fury that the branches of some 

 trees towards the Lake Road were broken down to the ground. There was also a fall 

 of hail for nearly an hour, and so much was the curiosity it excited, that crowds 

 of persons were seen, in spite of the rain, busily engaged in picking up the stones, 

 which were as large as bullets. After a few hours the rain ceased, thick clouds that 

 were overspreading the country disappeared, and a fine calm and clear evening fol- 

 lowed. The night was quite obscure, and the atmosphere very humid ; a star was 

 scarcely to be seen in the firmament, and lightning was flashing from every quarter, 

 illuminating the country, and making the smallest object visible. 



Hailstorm at Ootacamund, on the IQth of March, 1852. 

 Lat. 11° 50' N., long. 76° 45'. Alt. 7300 feet. 



A very severe hailstorm occurred at Ootacamund at 2 p.m. on the 19th of March. 

 The hailstones were not large, but sufficiently so to do considerable damage in 

 the gardens. It lasted about an hour, when the ground was as white as if snow had 

 fallen. Buckets full, caught from the house-tops, were next morning large lumps 

 of ice ; but as this is an article little cared for in this cold region, no one took 

 the trouble to keep it. Since this occurred the weather has been much colder, 

 and we cannot as yet throw off any of our winter clothing or blankets. 

 Hailstorm at Nursingpore, on the IQth and 20th of March, 1852. 

 Lat. 22° 56' N., long. 79' 18' E. Alt. IQOO feet. 



A letter of the 30th March, from Nursingpore, contains the following items : — 

 "In my last of the 13th April I mentioned that the weather was extremely sultry, 

 hazy, and suspicious ; and I have now to communicate that, from the 17th to the 27th, 

 we experienced a stormy period, of greater intensity and duration than is usually 

 encountered inland upon the sun's equinoctial passage. Rain, more or less, fell on 

 each day, attended invariably with much lightning and thunder, and occasionally 

 with violent gusts of wind. On the 19th, at 2*' 50™ p.m., a fall of hail of the size 

 of ordinary grapes occurred, with lightning and loud bursts of thunder; and on the 

 following day, at 2'' 10™ p.m., a similar phsenomenon took place during bright sun- 

 shine. No cloud in this instance was to be discerned whence the hail proceeded. 

 No lightning or thunder accompanied this last fall of hail here, and the only body of 

 cloud was at an altitude of about 40^ in the south-west quarter. The zenith was 

 quite clear. The total fall of rain amounted to r337 inch during the above days." 



Hailstorm at Pondicherry, on the 2ith of March, 1852. 

 Lat. 11° 57' N., long. 79° 54' E. Alt. 20 feet. 

 Pondicherry, 2Ath March. — Pondicherry was visited by a hailstorm between 3 and 

 4 in the afternoon of Wednesday last (24th), during a squall from the north-east. 

 The hailstones, which fell in large quantities for about 15 minutes, were generally 

 formed of a transparent covering over a white but opake interior, and most of them 

 were flattened or armed with points. The largest might have been an inch and a 

 half in diameter. 



Hailstorm at Mahableshwur , on the \Qth of April, 1852. 

 Lat. 17° 56' N., long. 73° 30' E. Alt. 4500 feet. 

 On Friday last, the l6th of April, the weather had become perfectly oppressive in the 

 forenoon, preceded some few days by great piles of thunder-clouds to N.N.E. About 

 2 o'clock the sky became suddenly overcast, followed by loud claps of thunder and 

 vivid and forked lightning; the thunder increased louder, peal after peal, and lightning 

 flash after flash, until 5 minutes to 4 p.m., when the wind veered round to N.E., and 

 with it came torrents of rain, accompanied by hail, the largest of which was at least 

 the size of a pigeon's egg ; such a shower of the latter I cannot recollect ever before 

 witnessing. The entire compound of my house was one sheet of irregular ice — 

 millions of stones might be picked up in a few minutes. This lasted for an hour, and 

 I have since ascertained that the pluviometer indicated the fall of 1"50 inch. During 



