236 Meteorology. 



calm. A dull subterranean nuise was heard, the sea suddenly 

 dashed against the rocks, and in the space of three seconds three 

 oscillations of the earth were fdt in a direction from the S.E. to 

 the N.W. The v\'ind then rose again, and all the violence of 

 the storm revived. At twelve o'clock a fresh concussion was 

 experienced : and at a quarter past eleven the next morning a 

 fourth, which was also preceded by the same deep and solemn 

 rumbling. Before seven o'clock on the morning of the 25th, a 

 fresh phaenomenon presented itself; a parhelion was distinctly 

 observed north of the rising sun ; but the earliness of its appear- 

 ance prevented its being generally noticed, and adding to the 

 terrors of the people. Tlie shocks were felt throughout all Pro- 

 vence, where no earthquake had been experienced for eleven 

 years. 



Letters from the Tyrol announce that the Glacier of Ortler in 

 the vicinty of Chiavenha has increased this winter in a most ex- 

 traordinary manner, notwithstanding the general mildness of the 

 season. From the depths of the ice, incessant and tremendous 

 roarings are heard. The Suldenbach stream, which formerly 

 issued from this glacier, has been dried up ever since Michael- 

 mas 1817, and great apprehensions are entertained for the neigh- 

 bouring countries, should the heats of summer reopen a passage 

 to the waters which seem to have collected within the bosom of 

 this immense mass of ice. Similar phienomena have been ob- 

 served in the glacier of the valley of Nandersberg. 



On Saturday the 7th of March a water-spout burst at Sten- 

 bury, near Whitwell, in the Isle of Wight, which did consider- 

 able injury. It was preceded bv a violently agitated atmo- 

 sphere, the noise of which, for half an hour, resembled a roar 

 the most dismal and appalling. When tiie cloud poured forth 

 its contents, it seemed to the inhabitants of S^enbury farm as 

 though the flood-gates of the sea had broken, and their destruc- 

 tion was inevitable: the water rolled down the hill in such irre- 

 sistible torrents, that it beat down a lofty wall, flooded all the 

 lower apartments of the farm, and set the cattle loose among the 

 streams — the affrighted inhabitants seeking shelter, with their 

 children, in the upper rooms. The terror and painful feeUngs are 

 indescribable. 



Extraordinary Fall of Rain. On the 21st of October 1817 

 {which was the day the hurricane commenced in the West In- 

 dies) at the island of Grenada, with the wind west, and the ba- 

 rometer standing at 29-40, eight inches of rain fell in twenty- 

 one hours ; and the rivers rose thirty feet above their usual level. 

 From the 20th of October to the 20th of November, seventeen 

 inches of rain fell. 



Meteoro- 



