INTRODUCTION. XXV 



bending the upmoving current of air out of the perpendicular, 

 before it rises high enough to form cloud, such as Jamaica, will 

 produce rain every day ; great cities where very much fuel is 

 burnt, in countries where the complement of the dew point is 

 small, such as Manchester and Liverpool, will frequently produce 

 rain ; even battles, and accidental fires, if they occur under favor- 

 able circumstances, may sometimes be followed by rain. (Sect. X., 

 passim.) Let all these favorable circumstances be watched for in 

 time of drought (and they can only occur then), and let the experi- 

 ment be tried ; if it should be successful, the result would be highly 

 beneficial to mankind. It might probably prevent the occurrence 

 of those destructive tornadoes which produce such devastation in 

 the United States ; for if rains should be produced at regular in- 

 tervals, of no great duration, the steam power in the air might 

 thus be prevented from rising high enough to produce any storm 

 of destructive character. Besides its utility to the farmer, it would 

 be highly useful to the mariner in the following way : As the 

 very time and place of the commencement of the rain would be 

 known, it would be easy to find out in what direction, from the 

 place of beginning, it moved along the surface of the earth, and 

 also its velocity of motion, and the shape that it assumed from 

 time to time in its progress ; and this knowledge being extended 

 to the motion of storms on the ocean, will enable the mariner, 

 who has the power of locomotion, to direct his vessel so, when 



cloud began to form round the lofty conical mountain in that island, in the 

 form of a ring, as the wooden horizon surrounds the terrestrial artificial globe, 

 and it soon began to rain in torrents, and continued through the day. In the 

 evening the sea breeze died away and the rain ceased, and the cloud soon dis- 

 appeared, and it remained entirely clear till after the sea breeze set in next 

 morning. The land breeze prevailed during the night, and was so cool as to 

 render fires pleasant to the natives, which I observed they constantly kindled 

 in the evening. I was particularly struck with the phenomena of the cloud 

 surrounding the mountain, when none was ever seen in any other part of the 

 sky, and none there till after the sea breeze set in, in the morning, which it 

 did with wonderful regularity. The mountain stood in bold relief, and its top 

 could always be seen from where the ship lay, above the cloud, even when it 

 was the densest and blackest, with the lightning flashing and the thunder 

 rolling, as it did every day. I passed up through the cloud once, and I know, 

 therefore, how violently it rains, especially at the lower side of the cloud. 

 This rain never extends beyond the base of the mountain ; and all round the 

 horizon there is eternally a cloudless sky. The dews, however, are very 

 heavy, and there seems to be no suffering for want of rain. That this state 

 of things continues all the year, 1 have no doubt, from what an American, by 

 name Sears, who had spent four years there, told me ; he said he had seen 

 no change in regard to the rain. CALEB WILLIAMS, 



Of Providence, Rhode Island. 



JANUARY 2d, 1840. Having read the above, I can safely attest to the truth 

 of what Mr. Caleb Williams writes ; but, furthermore, can say it is the same 

 on all the mountains on the different islands of the group. 



JOSEPH STEELE, of Boston. 



