TORNADOES. 159 



' changing of the monsoons.' ' Dunng the interreg- 

 num/ writes Maury, 'the fiends of the storm hold 

 their terrific sway.' Becalmed often for a day or 

 two, seamen hear moaning sounds in the air, fore- 

 warning them of the coming storm. Then, suddenly, 

 the winds break loose from the forces which have for 

 awhile controlled them, and f seem to rage with a fury 

 that would break up the fountains of the deep.' 



In the North Indian seas hurricanes rage at the 

 same season as in the West Indies. 



In the China seas occur those fearful gales known 

 among sailors as e typhoons,' or f white squalls.' These 

 take place at the changing of the monsoons. Generated, 

 like the West Indian hurricanes, at a distance of some 

 ten or twelve degrees from the equator, typhoons 

 sweep in a curve similar to that followed by the 

 Atlantic storms around the East Indian Archipelago, 

 and the shores of China to the Japanese Islands. 



There occur land-storms, also, of a cyclonic character 

 in the valley of the Mississippi. ' I have often ob- 

 served the paths of such storms,' says Maury, ( through 

 the forests of the Mississippi. There the track of 

 these tornadoes is called a " wind-road," because they 

 make an avenue through the wood straight along, and 

 as clear of trees as if the old denizens of the forest had 

 been cleared with an axe. I have seen trees three or 

 four feet in diameter torn up by the roots, and the top, 

 with its limbs, lying next the hole whence the root 

 came.' Another writer, who was an eye-witness to 

 the progress of one of these American land-storms, 



