0/1 tlt£ Identity nf IFater-spouts and Whirlwinds. 103 

 All these facts seem scarcelv to admit of any esplanation, but 

 on the view that has been stated, and tliey attord a strong con- 

 firmation of it. 



XVI. On the Identity of Water-Spouts and Whirlwinds *. 



Sir — If vou think the following remarks relative to whiil- 

 winds, or water-sponts, worthy of a place in your lourna , 

 vou will oblige me hv their insertion ; as the opnnons ot travel- 

 lers, and also of philosophers, differ greatly concerning this na- 

 tural ph-cenomenon, and any inforn.ation afforded, bv attentive 

 observ-ation, may therefore be intere^ing, if not usetul. 



An old staler, in the last'nli^^of the Naval Chronicle, seem-^ 

 to be of the opinion of Theophilus Lindsay, and some other phi- 

 losophers; viz. that in the phenomenon called a water-spout^ 

 the water ti.5c.nJ>- in columns from the clouds upon the eartn 

 or 8ea, and does not ascend from the sea upward to the clouds, 

 which 1 believe to be the common opinion. 



To corroborate his opinion, this writer gives an extract from 

 a Scotch newspaper, stating, that a wate.--spont had descended 

 and done considerable damage in a part of that countrv. 



In stormy weather, when the barometer is low and the atmo- 

 ^ohere lieht, if clouds which contain much moisture happen to 

 impinge against anv of the hills of an alpine country, they are 

 certainly liable in 'such case to discharge their contents n» 

 heavy rains, which descending rapidly from the summits of the 

 hills rush with irresistible force down the valleys, carrying 

 ever^ thing before them; and these local discharges of heavy 

 rain- are commonly called waterspouts by the neighbouring 

 inhabitants. The' Hawkesbury river in New South Wales is 

 sometimes subject to a rise of from twenty to thirty feet above 

 the natural level, by the sudden rupture ot clouds on the summits 

 of the Blue Mountains. About thirteen years ago a phaenomenou 

 of this kind happened at St. Helena, when a cloud suddenly broke 

 upon the hill that forms the head of Rupert's valley; and aJ- 

 thouffh the bed of this valley is generally dry, the immtMise booy 

 of water that rushed through it at this time, bore down the s rmig 

 line of stone ramparts, and carried some heavy pieces of artillery 



"' n'l.ink^although the last number of the Naval Chronicle is 

 not now before me) his correspondent considers the water- 

 spout seen at sea to be a similar, if not the same ph^enomenon 

 aWhis last mentioned, except that the white column intne cen- 

 tre of the spout he considers to bo a congregated mass, or body 

 • I'roiu the Asiatic .Tounisl, No. 23. 



G4 ^^ 



