CLOUD COMBINATIONS. 21 



A great many other foretellings of weather are known in one 

 shape or another, but it is not the province or purport of this work 

 to be a prophetic indicator of the weather, but simply to explain 

 some of the most common and important physical phenomena of 

 the region about Labrador : hence a few of the usual combinations 

 of thermometer and barometer readings, which may generally be 

 relied upon with a tolerable degree of accuracy in guiding the 

 mariner along these coasts, where, in summer, travelling is by water 

 and a fair day is predicted as far ahead as possible. 



The combinations of the clouds are also great indicators of 

 weather and affect the barometer more or less indirectly. The 

 cirrus is seen at all seasons of the year and at all heights of the 

 barometer ; it has a slow motion in fair and a rapid one with falling 

 barometer in foul or stormy weather. The cirro-stratus, not unlike 

 the cirrus of which it is a peculiar condition, is the forerunner of a 

 falling barometer with wind or rain. Sometimes it appears after a 

 rapid rise in the mercury ; then also rain generally follows soon. 

 The cirro-cuinuius comes with a rising barometer and is a warm 

 weather cloud. The cumulus is seen chiefly in spring and summer ; 

 it is seen in showery weather with the cirro-stratus, and in hot weather 

 alone or with other clouds. "If during a fine morning this cloud sud- 

 denly disappears, and it be followed by the cirro-stratus with the 

 wind backing to the south, the mercury falls, and rain soon follows. 

 The cumulus is a day cloud ; its greatest density keeps off the too 

 scorching rays of the noonday sun ; it usually evaporates an hour 

 or two before sunset. When it increases after sunset, and shines 

 with a ruddy, copper-colored light, it denotes a thunder storm." 

 The cumulus is seen with a risnig barometer generally. The cu- 

 mulo-stratus appears much like the cumulus, indicating sudden 

 changes of \vind, thunder squalls, and even hail. It tends to raise 

 the mercury. The stratus, in the words of the same authority 

 above quoted, "is formed from the sudden chill of certain strata of 

 the atmosphere, which, condensing the vapor contained in them, 

 renders it visible in a misty cloud or creeping fog. Calm weather 

 is essential for the formation of the stratus ; it is frequent in fine 



