TORNADOES. 155 



especially with reference to the great guns carried 

 in the air < like chaff.' l (If so, it ' blew great guns,' 

 indeed.) 



In the gale of August, 1782, all the trophies of 

 Lord Eodney's victory, except the ' Ardent,' were de- 

 stroyed, two British ships-of-the-line foundered at sea,, 

 numbers of merchantmen under Admiral Graves' con- 

 voy were wrecked, and at sea alone three thousand 

 lives were lost. 



But quite recently a storm far more destructive 

 than these swept over the Bay of Bengal. Most of my 

 readers doubtless remember the great gale of October 

 1864, in which all the ships in harbour at Calcutta 

 were swept from their anchorage, and driven one upon 

 another in inextricable confusion. Fearful as was the 

 loss of life and property in Calcutta harbour, the 

 destruction on land was greater. A vast wave swept 

 for miles over the surrounding country, embankments 

 were destroyed, and whole villages, with their inhabi- 

 tants, were swept away. Fifty thousand souls, it is 

 believed, perished in this fearful hurricane. 



The gale which has just ravaged the Grulf of Mexica 

 adds another to the long list of disastrous hurricanes. 

 As I write, the effects produced by this tornado are 

 beginning to be made known. Already its destructive- 

 ness has become but too certainly evidenced. 



The laws which appear to regulate the generation 



1 I remember to have read that in this hurricane guns which had 

 long lain under water were washed up like mere drift upon the 

 beach. Perhaps this circumstance grew gradually into the incredible 

 story above recorded. 



