66 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



and their course so beset with islands, that the pro- 

 blem of how to handle a ship in them becomes almost 

 insolvable from the lack of sea room. Also, it must 

 be said that their ravages on land are terrible, their 

 course over the cultivated islands being marked by 

 wide swaths of destruction. But as in their distinctive 

 features they vary little, if at all, from the cyclones 

 of the Indian Ocean, the consideration of the latter 

 may be taken as including a description of them. 



It has been pointed out before, very briefly, that 

 all storms have a cyclonic or circular motion on an 

 axis, and also a lateral motion, the whole body of 

 revolving air being carried along in some given direc- 

 tion. This movement of great bodies of air reaches 

 its highest speed and most destructive force in the 

 hurricane, wherein the movement of the air attains 

 such a velocity that its effects follow very closely 

 in their dreadful power the other two great natural 

 disasters of earthquakes and volcanoes. The proxi- 

 mate cause of these stupendous manifestations of aerial 

 energy is a combination of accumulated electrical 

 energy with Nature's effort to restore equilibrium in 

 a superheated atmosphere. One of the commonest 

 of weather experiences in our country is the sultry 

 oppressive feeling on a day in summer when the sky 

 is beclouded and everybody feels inclined to pant for 

 breath. All the senses demand relief, and it is felt 

 that relief can only come through a thunderstorm. 

 It usually does, and in a very short time, after a heavy 

 discharge of electricity, accompanied by copious rain 

 and sometimes fierce squalls, the air is cleared, and 

 we begin to breathe more freely. On a vastly larger 

 scale this is the commencement of the hurricane. 



