Causes of certain Winds and Storms. 177 



in the Philosophical Transactions for 1698, on the hurricanes of 

 the West Indies, remarks from it, that " Ail hurricanes begin 

 between north and west. Their course is generally opposite to 

 that of the trade winds. Tornados come from several points." * 



(e.) " This is the wet season, but the rains by no means de- 

 scend from morning till night, as in some other tropical coun- 

 tries, but commence generally every afternoon about four or five 

 oMock, with a thunderstorm. — Formerly these diurnal rains 

 came on with such regularity, that it was usual, in forming par- 

 ties of pleasure, to arrange whether they should take place be- 

 fore or after the storm. — In the excursion made from Villa Rica 

 to Labara, it will be seen that violent thunderstorms were ex- 

 perienced almost daily ; and I could not help noticing the way 

 these storms commenced. The sky was perfectly clear until 

 about two or three o''clock, when some light white clouds were 

 seen approximating the sun with great rapidity. Sometimes 

 they all passed, but if one lingered as if within its influence, 

 thunder was heai'd, and in a few minutes no remains of a blue 

 sky were visible. The storm commenced directly." Commen- 

 cing in the direction of the sun at two or three o"'clock, these 

 storms of course begin in the west f . 



(y^) " Thunder and lightning are ten times more frequent 

 than in Spain, especially if a storm comes from the nortlt-west. 

 During my residence in Paraguay, several persons fell victims 

 to lightning, and in the city of Buenos Ayres, in a storm on the 

 21st of January 1793, it fell in thirty-seven different places, an' I 

 killed nineteen people. These storms of wind, thunder, rain, and 

 lightning, cannot be attributed to the influence of mountains, as 

 there are none within one hundred leagues J. 



{g.) " Les vents de Nord N. de Nord-Ouest sont ceux que 

 amenent les gros temps et les ouragans dans les mois d'Avril, 

 Mai, Juin, Jouillct et Aout ; mais ces ouragans, quelquefois 

 furieux ne sont pas frequens." The months specified, constitute 



• Philosophy, vol. ii. p. 458. It is hardly necessary to observe that a hur- 

 ricane is a violent thunderstorm. 



•f" Caldcleugh's Observations in Brazil, in Brande's Journal, vol. xiv. 



% Azara's Travels in South America, quoted in the Anti-Jacobin, vol. 

 xxxiv. p. 456'. 



APRIL — JUNE 1831. M 



