154 OUTLINES OF FORESTRY 



Sea. Its mean breadth was from fifteen to twenty leagues. 

 The hail only fell in certain places : to the left of Perigueux, 

 over the arrondissement of Limoges, to the right of Chateau- 

 roux, to the southeast of Paris, from Corbeil to Lagny, and in 

 the arrondissements of Soissons and Saint-Quentin. At this 

 latter point it was of a formidable character. The crystal mass 

 which fell from the sky upon the Catelet meadows formed a 

 bed a mile and a quarter long and two thousand feet broad, 

 estimated to amount altogether to twenty-one millions of cubic 

 feet. The hailstones did not disappear for more than four 

 days afterwards. These hailstones sometimes destroy all the 

 crops, as, for instance, that which occurred in the neighbor- 

 hood of Angouleme on August 3, 1813. The day had been 

 fine, and the wind was due north until 3 P.M., when it sud- 

 denly veered right round ; the sky gradually became covered 

 with clouds, which, collecting one on the top of the other, 

 offered a terrible spectacle. The wind, which from noon until 

 5 P.M. had been rather violent, suddenly dropped. Thunder 

 was heard in the distance, and gradually became louder ; the 

 sky, at last, became totally obscured, and at 6 P.M. there was 

 a tremendous fall of hail, the stones being as large as eggs. 

 Several persons were severely wounded, and a child was killed 

 near Barbezieux. The next day the ground looked as it might 

 do in midwinter : the hailstones had accumulated in the hol- 

 lows and the roads to a height of thirty to forty inches ; trees 

 were entirely stripped of their leaves ; vines were cut into 

 pieces, the crops crushed, the cattle, sheep, and pigs especially 

 were severely injured. The whole neighborhood was deprived 

 of game, and some few young wolves were found dead. The 

 effects of the storm were still visible in 1818." " * 



