158 EQUATORIAL STORMS. 



the good stations just mentioned, the average daily 

 range of the thermometer does not exceed more than 

 about 11 F. say from about 79 to 90 as a per- 

 manent temperature. There can be no doubt that it is 

 this unbroken continuity of these high temperatures, 

 especially by night, which proves so debilitating to 

 the European resident, and predisposes to enlargements 

 of the visceral organs, so frequently observed amongst 

 them. 



The exceedingly still and sultry atmosphere is, 

 however, frequently refreshed and broken in upon by 

 rainstorms, which are often accompanied by thunder 

 and fierce gusts of wind; such storms have a great 

 and immediate effect in cooling the air ; and while they 

 last, the gusts are often quite cold and chilly. The 

 sudden way in which these storms sometimes come 

 up has been described in our chapter on Climates and 

 Temperatures. The dense blackness of the clouds, and 

 angry look of the sky, at such times, is often quite a 

 thing to be seen, and when the storm at length bursts 

 the effect is sometimes grand in the extreme: the 

 constant roll of thunder; the furious gusts of wind; 

 the tremendous downpour of rain, as if it proceeded 

 from the strainer of a shower bath; all combine to 

 form a scene which can never be forgotten. 



Nevertheless, the great cyclones very rarely affect 

 the Equatorial Zone of constant rains and calms great 

 hurricanes, cyclones, or typhoons (or whatever other 

 name they may be called by) seldom coming down 

 nearer than within 5 or 6 degrees of the equator * 



* See, The Principal Winds of the Globe, Rains, Ice-Limits, Fogs, 

 Rollers, and Revolving Storms, by Captain Robert Jackson, R.N., 

 1890, p. 26 (British Naval Pamphlet). 



