572 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 
other, presents some deflective forces which cause a divergence in 
the cyclone. Seldom a year passes without a severe gale or 
hurricane in these latitudes. These are ordinarily preceded by 
close, sultry weather, with a murky sky. The barometer falls 
rapidly, or oscillates, between 30 deg. and 29 deg.—sometimes 
sinks as low as 28 deg. 50 sec.; even the native (or natural) 
barometer gives unmistakable indications of an approaching storm. 
The gale generally commences in the south, and veers round to 
the west and north-west, which is the culminating point, and 
blows strongest. The sea rises to a tremendous height, sweeping 
in long and overwhelming waves. One vessel near Samoa 
suddenly foundered by such a wave breaking over her and carry- 
ing her down stern foremost. 
At Christmas, 1848, I first experienced this cyclone storm in 
Samoa. It was very powerful on the north side of Upolu, but on 
the south side and on the other islands it was scarcely felt. In 
some places the wind gyrated like a whirlwind. Near my resi- 
dence I observed the roof of a native hut torn bodily off from its 
supporting posts and whirled in the air for a time, and then cast 
down in fragments a considerable distance away. A still more 
severe hurricane occurred in April, 1850, and was widely exten- 
sive and continuous, lasting for two days, with a brief interval in 
which the rain poured down in torrents. My house was unroofed, 
and not a native hut was left standing in the district. Stone 
churches were either unroofed or blown down, and the land was 
strewed with fallen trees. Some natives were killed and others 
wounded by falling houses and trees; one man was killed by a 
rock falling upon him. Three vessels at anchor in the harbour 
of Apia were driven ashore and wrecked; another foundered at 
the entrance to the harbour, while endeavouring—like H.M.S. 
Calliope, in March last—to escape out to sea ; and a small cutter 
went down at her anchorage by a sea sweeping over it. 
The next severe hurricane in Samoa was experienced in 
January, 65. The neighbourhood of Apia harbour was especially 
exposed to its fury. The German barque A/s/er was driven on to 
the reef, and all hands, with one exception, were lost. In 
March, ’79, another cyclone swept over Upolu, but the current 
took a favourable direction for the shipping at Apia, so that the 
vessels were able to ride out the gale. Again, in March, ’83, a 
destructive hurricane was experienced in Samoa, and the island 
of Upolu suffered severely, and a large number of houses and 
trees were destroyed. Several vesssel and ten lives were lost. 
The latest catastrophe occasioned by a hurricane in Samoa is 
that which has become painfully familiar to us in Australia, and 
of historical interest universally, occurred last March. The height 
of the storm burst with unexpected suddenness and strength 
upon the roadstead of Apia Bay. At that time, unfortunately, 
there was a larger amount of shipping in the bay than on 
