308 Mr Redfield's Observations on the 



2. These storms cover, at the same moment of time, an ex- 

 tent of contiguous surface, the diameter of which may vary in 

 different storms, from one hundred to five hundred miles, and 

 in some cases they have been much more extensive. They 

 act with diminished violence towards the exterior, and with in- 

 creased energy towards the interior, of the space which they 

 occupy. 



3. While in the tropical latitudes, or south of the parallel 

 30°, these storms pursue their course, or are drifted by the na- 

 tural atmospheric current of the region towards the west, on a 

 track which inclines gradually to the northward, till it ap- 

 proaches the latitude of 30°. In the vicinity of this parallel, 

 their course is changed somewhat abruptly to the northward 

 and eastward, and the track continues to incline gradually to 

 the east, towards which point, after leaving the lower latitudes, 

 they are found to progress with an accelerated velocity. 



The rate at which these storms are found thus to advance in 

 their course, varies in different cases, but may be estimated at 

 from 12 to 30 miles an hour. The extent to which their course 

 is finally pursued, remains unknown ; but it is probable that 

 as they proceed, they become gradually extended in their di- 

 mensions, and weakened in their action, till they cease to com- 

 mand any peculiar notice. One of the hurricanes of August 

 1830, has been traced in its daily course, from near the Ca- 

 ribbee Islands to the coast of Florida and the Carolinas, and 

 from thence to the banks of Newfoundland, a distance of more 

 than three thousand miles, which was passed over by the storm 

 in about six days. The duration of the most violent portion 

 of this gale, at the different points over which it passed, was 

 about 12 hours, but its entire duration was in many places 

 more than twice that period. Another hurricane Avhich oc- 

 curred in the same month, passed from near the Windward 

 Islands, on a more eastern but similar route, and has also been 

 traced in its daily stages by means of the journals and reports 

 of voyagers, near two thousand five hundred miles. It was in 

 this storm that the Russian Corvette, Kensington, Captain 

 Ramsey, suffered so severely. The hurricane of August 1831 

 which desolated the island of Barbadoes on the 10th of that 

 month, the daily progress of which has also been ascertained* 



