104 On the Idevtlty of Water -spouts and IVhirlivinds. 



of water, descending from the doiuls to the sea. Now, as many 

 water-spouts are of great diameter, I am decidedly of opinion, 

 that if the central white column were a ['odij of Jalliug water 

 upon the surface of the sea, its noise would he heard nianv miles, 

 i: not many leagues, like the falls of Morencv and Niagara, and 

 would sink, or destroy, any unfortunate ship which happened to 

 come in contact with its vortex ; but, my experience compels 

 me to think otherwise, as I never heard the noise of any water- 

 spout until very close to it, and then, the noise resembled that 

 of steam issuing through a snudl aperture of a boiler, occasioned 

 by the whirlwind's rapid motion in disengaging water in the 

 gaseous form from the surface of the sea : besides, if the central 

 white colunni were a mass of falling water, its diameter ought to 

 increase by the resistance of the atmosphere in descending, and 

 consequently he greater near the sea than higher up towards the 

 cloud ; but this probably never happens, as the diameter of a 

 ivater-spout, as well as the interior column, is greatest near the 

 impending cloud, and converges towards the sea. That whirl- 

 winds, or water-spouts, may often differ much in formation and 

 appearance, I believe there can be little doubt ; but I have cer- 

 taiiilv more than once, both by ocular and tangible observation, 

 i)eeii con\ inced, that a whirlwind and water-spout are sometimes 

 one and the same plifenomcnon. At one time, when dense clouds, 

 charged with electric matter, approached the ships in Canton 

 river, a regular water-spout was formed by a tube descending 

 from the cloud in the usual manner, and the whirlwind turned 

 one of the ships round at her moorings. As this whirlwind passed 

 over the island, close to the village of Whampoa it unroofed se- 

 veral thatched houses, ai\d tore the leaves from the trees, which 

 ivere carried up a considerable way into the atmosphere by the 

 whirlwind, and at this time it had a dense appearance; but as 

 soon as it drifted over the laud and came in contact with the 

 water of the river, the white tube bec;mie very conspicuous in the 

 centre of the vvhirKvind, and tlie water seemed to be torn from 

 the surface of the river and carried upwards in small particles by 

 the whirlwind. Had any light terrene bodies been floating in 

 the river at this time, in the path of the whirlwind, they certainly 

 would have been drawn upward like those which came into its 

 vortex when it passed over the land. This was certainly an ex- 

 ample of the unity of a whirlwind and water-spout. At another 

 time a regular-formed water-spout was driven along by the wind 

 till its exterior surface nearly touched the quarter of our ship, 

 when I plainly saw the water disengaged from the surface of the 

 f)ea with a hissing noise, and carried upward in the gaseous form 

 •by the ascending whirlwind, while the vacuum, or cavity, in its 

 centre, wiis very distinct, with heavy drops of rain falling down 



both 



