THE LULL OF THE STORM. 125 



its velocity 68 miles an hour; while at i p.m. its velocity 

 had reached 96 miles, indicating hurricane fury but at 2 p.m. 

 (the Barometer still falling) it lulled to 56 miles, at the ob- 

 servatory, where the centre of the storm did not pass, and 

 to two miles in the centre (that is almost a dead calm)." 



The lull of the storm is thus described: 



" Between the gusts had always been those silent moments, 

 more terrible than the gusts themselves, which characterize 

 a cyclonic storm, as if the wind gathered its strength to strike 

 each blow more deadly than the last." * 



The awful calm of the vortex seems to have passed 

 about 2.30 p.m. 



"Suddenly (we are told) the roar ceased, the hissing sank 

 to a whisper, a calm succeeded the storm, and a haze like 

 a November fog filled the air. Cautiously a door was opened, 

 and we stepped out and looked round and one exclaimed 

 'This is the centre' and another 'Mind what follows '. 

 At 4 p.m. a boom like that of a hundred-ton gun, resounded, 

 and the battle raged anew, though the centre had passed." t 



It was at this moment that the velocity of 1 2 1 miles 

 an hour was registered, and from thenceforward, as 

 the cyclone moved onwards, the storm abated, until 

 8 or 9 p.m. when it was at an end. " Never (we are 

 assured) did a more glorious day shine, than on the 

 morrow of the 29th of April." 



The storm fiend had passed by; and the work of 

 collecting the dead and wounded remained to be 

 taken in hand, exactly as upon the field of action, 

 after a great battle ; and before the close of that day 



* The Cyclone of Mauritius, in Blackwood's Magazine of September 

 1892. 

 t Ibid. 

 Ibid. 



