276 THE ATMOSPHEEE AND METEOEOLOGY. 



which had remained upright in spite of the storm were completely 

 stripped of their bark. 



It is principally on the shores of islands and continents where the 

 tempest has not • yet been retarded by the obstacles of the ground 

 that the effects of the storm are the most violent. It is there, too, 

 that the greater number of human lives are destroyed in the general 

 disaster ; for then the ships alwaj'-s repair to the ports, and in many 

 places of the coasts there are low lands which the waters suddenly 

 rising inundate to a vast extent. Nevertheless, when the cyclone 

 strikes against the mountains of a coast it cannot surmount thera, 

 and the regions situated beyond remain completely sheltered. Thus 

 in the island of Reunion the hurricane only strikes one side of the 

 island at the same time ; too low to cross the mountains, it at first 

 only devastates the plains situated on one side ; but in its march 



\ 



^y^ 



J^ig. 110.— Calm during the hurricane at Reunion, Feb. 15, 1861. 



