BOOK III. CHAP. VII. 627 



A houfe, having a pinnacle or fliarpened point on the top of the roof, 

 will therefore be more obnoxious to its ftroke, than another which 

 has no fuch attraftor. 



I have known a building not exceeding 14 feet in height, having 

 the hip-rafters united in a perpendicular ipike, or port of timber fliarp- 

 ened at top (as pigeon and mill-houfes arc commonly conftru6led 

 here) ftruck with lightning, when a dwelling-hoiire, diftant only- 

 twelve yards from it, and at leaft 30 feet in height, but having no point 

 of attraftion upon it, efcaped untouched. 



Hence It is, that cocoa-nut, cabbage, and other trees of the palm 

 kind, are oftener ftruck than any other. In general, the fmall twigs 

 of trees, or perhaps their atmolphere, attradl lightning. The lofty 

 and maffive cotton trees are frequently deftroyed by it, or mutilated 

 in their principal branches, which is vilible to travelers, in many parts 

 of the mountains. 



From thefe obfervations may be inferred, the expediency of build- 

 ing low houfes in the country parts of this ifland, raifed on a founda- 

 tion not exceeding three or four feet, with a roof of moderate pitch, 

 and taking care not to fix any wooden or metallic fpikes byway of or- 

 nament at top, unlefs a conduftor or rod be eredted for its fecurity ; and 

 except in very low and watery fituations, where buildings of two 

 ftories are proper for health. 



Trees planted too near, fuch as the cocoa and cabbage, are natural 

 conduilors, and may endanger it, by being rent in pieces ; but, at a 

 moderate diftance, they will, by their fuperior elevation and attrafting 

 points, catch the eledric fluid in thunder gufts approaching very near, 

 and tranfmit it to the earth without injury to fuch buildinsrs. 



Houfes thus conllruded would likcwile be more fecure againft the 

 effefts of a hurricane or earthquake. 



Travelers, overtaken by a thunder guft, fhould prefer a drenching, 

 or a fhelter under a rock, rather than under trees on the road fide, as 

 fuch trees are often deftroved. 



In all buildings here, care (hould be taken to have neither iron bars 

 nor bolts, but rather faftenings of timber; by which precaution, acci- 

 dents might be much prevented. Mofi: of the houfes, that I can re- 

 member to have been ftruck here by lightning, having attrafted it by 

 iron bars acrofs the doors, or fome other iron work about them. 



Before the fctting-in of the periodical rains, it is ufual to fee flafli- 

 ings all round the horizon. Whenever lightning appears in the even- 

 ing in that quarter from whence the wind has blown all day, the en- 

 filing day is generally rainy. Large flafhings over the S. E. fummit 

 of the Blue Mountains, indicate rain to the flat country lying to the 

 Weft ward of them. 



4 L 2 I have 



