362 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



704. " In the Java Sea, during the month of February, the 

 Thunder and west monsoon blows strong almost continually ; in 

 lightning. March it blows intermittingly, and with hard 

 squalls ; but in April the squalls become less frequent and less 

 severe. Now the changing commences ; all at once gusts begin 

 to spring up from the east : they are often followed by calms. 

 The clouds which crowd themselves upon the clear sky give 

 warning of the combat in the upper air which the currents there 

 are about to wage with each other. The electricity, driven 

 thereby out of its natural channels, in which, unobserved, it has 

 been performing silently, but with the full consciousness of its 

 power, the mysterious task appointed to it, now displays itself 

 with dazzling majesty ; its sheen and its voice fill with astonish- 

 ment and deep reverence the mind of the sailor — so susceptible, 

 in the presence of storm and darkness, to impressions that inspire 

 feeliogs both of dread and anxiety, which by pretended occupa- 

 tions he strives in vain to conceal.* Day and night we now have 

 thunder-storms. The clouds are in continual movement, and the 

 darkened air, laden with vapour, flies in all directions through 

 the skies. The combat which the clouds seem to court and to 

 dread appears to make them more thirsty than ever. They 

 resort to extraordinary means to refresh themselves; in tunnel 

 form, when time and opportunity fail to allow them to quench 

 their thirst from the surrounding atmosphere in the usual man- 

 ner, they descend near the surface of the sea, and appear to lap 

 the water directly up with their black mouths. Water-spouts 

 thus created are often seen in the changing season, especially 

 among small groups of islands, which appear to facilitate their 

 formation.! The water-spouts are not always accompanied by 

 strong winds ; frequently more than one is seen at a time, where- 

 upon the clouds whence they proceed disperse in various direc- 

 tions, and the ends of the water-spouts bending over finally causes 

 them to break in the middle, although the water which is now 

 seen foaming around their base has suffered little or no move- 

 ment laterally. 



705. "Yet often the wind prevents the formation of water- 

 Water-spouts. spouts. In their stead the wind-spout shoots up 



* No phenomena in nature make a deeper impression upon the sailor than a 

 dark thunder-storm in a calm at sea. — Jansen, 



t I never saw more water-spouts than in the Archipelago of Bioun Singen 

 during the changing. Almost dfiOy we siiw one or more. — Jansex. 



