xxviii INTRODUCTION. 



information relative to a violent hurricane which passed over this 

 group on the 17th December, 1840, shortly before the arrival of the 

 Peacock on her second visit, in 1841. The following are the material 

 facts, viz. : 



At Apia, on the 12th, light winds prevailed from the southeast, the 

 upper or cirrus stratum of clouds coming from the southwest. The 

 wind continued to increase until the 16th; at midnight it changed to 

 a heavy squall from the northeast. At 2 A. M., on the 17th, the wind 

 was violent from the southeast, with a copious fall of rain; at 2h. 30m., 

 wind from south-southeast in heavy gusts ; at 8 A. M., a rapid shift to 

 southwest ; afterwards the gale gradually moderated, with the wind 

 from the same quarter. 



At Tutuilla the storm began at daylight on the 17th, increasing till 

 noon. Wind east-northeast. Half an hour after noon there was a 

 lull of twenty minutes, and then the wind shifted suddenly round to 

 the southward and westward, and blew a heavy gale, which continued 

 till midnight : the morning of the 18th was clear. 



At both places the gale was most violent just after the change, 

 when houses and trees were prostrated, and great destruction caused 

 to a considerable portion of both islands. 



The islands of Upolu and Tutuilla lie west-northwest and east- 

 southeast. The eastern end of Upolu and the western end of Tutuilla 

 were the parts that suffered most severely. Over the town of Lione, 

 on the western end of the latter, the centre of the storm seems to 

 have passed ; it swept over it and one or two other villages in its 

 track, levelling all the buildings, tearing up the bread-fruit and cocoa- 

 nut trees, and prostrating a large area of forest trees. This gale, 

 estimating from the time of its sudden changes, was about four hours 

 in passing from Upolu to Tutuilla, a distance of sixty miles; conse- 

 quently its progress was about fifteen miles an hour, in a northwest 

 and southeast direction, having been carried onward by the northwest 

 monsoon, which prevailed at that season of the year. The gale was felt 

 at Savaii, the westernmost, and also, from the reports of the natives, 

 at Manua, the easternmost island of the group. They could give no 

 other facts. The length of the whole group is three hundred miles, 

 which would give the diameter of the storm about two hundred and 

 fifty miles. It is to be regretted that no good instruments were in the 

 possession of these intelligent gentlemen, but such as they had were 

 observed. A barometer in the possession of Mr. Williams, the Ame- 

 rican Consul, which usually stood at 28 inches, at Apia, fell as 



