1 00 WATERSPO UTS. 



half a mile wide he informs us it was soon turned into 

 a rapid torrent. * 



Almost all parts of the great prairies of North 

 America and the karroo regions of South Africa are 

 also liable to be visited by terrific rainstorms, which 

 give rise to floods of the most dangerous character, 

 which take place without the slightest warning of 

 any kind. These cloud-bursts occur suddenly, in the 

 midst of a spell of the finest weather, when perhaps 

 there has not been a drop of rain for weeks. Colonel 

 Dodge, U.S.A., gives us a graphic description of 

 some of these phenomena in his delightful and instruc- 

 tive work, " The Hunting Grounds of the Great West. " 



" They are so severe," he tells us, " that they have the 

 general name of waterspouts. The quantity of water poured 

 from the clouds and the effects produced are so apparently 

 incredible that I would hesitate to describe them, but that 

 the facts are perfectly well known to every prairie man. 

 These storms generally occur in the afternoon of a sultry 

 day, and in gathering and coming up have all the appearance 

 of an ordinary thunderstorm. The rain, however, does not 

 fall in drops, but in streams. They present the appearance of 

 sheets, or waves, of water, and when the deluge of rain is r 

 as is often the case, accompanied by huge rounded lumps 

 of ice, they become really very serious. Men can generally 

 find means of protecting themselves though I have seen 

 them pretty badly beaten but animals are sometimes severely 

 injured, and always rendered frantic, by the pounding; 

 If a storm overtakes a party on the march, the animals 

 should be unhitched at once, and taken to cover, if any 

 be near: or if there be none, most securely fastened to 

 the waggons. If in camp every precaution should be taken, 



* Travels in North Africa, by Dr. Earth, Vol. i, pp. 325 26 

 (published 1857, London). 



