12 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



about miles, it commenced about four P. M. of the same 



day from N. N. W. to N. W., and continued at that point 

 till ten at night ; then a lull for about half an hour, when 

 the wind chopped round to S. W., and blew with greater 

 violence for about two hours. Now if we suppose that the 

 centre of this storm passed along a line lying nearly N. W, 

 and S. E. between the two islands, the conditions of the 

 theory would be exactly answered. At all events the 

 wind was blowing a hurricane from one to ten hours, in 

 opposite directions, towards a point nearly between the two 

 islands ; and when the wind changed at Santa Cruz it went 

 by west, as, by the theory, it ought to have done, since the 

 wind at St. Eustatias at that time was blowing in a direc- 

 tion, which would pass to the east of Santa Cruz. The 

 lull however at Santa Cruz for half an hour, would seem to 

 imply that the centre of the storm passed near the place of 

 observation. 



In Edwards's History of Jamaica, volume 3, page 620, 

 the author says, " immediately before the storm begins the 

 wind commonly blows hard for an hour or two from the 

 west; which never happening but on such an occasion, the 

 tempest may with great certainty be expected to follow. 

 They begin from the north, veer back to the N. W., then 

 W. and S. S. W., and when got round to S. E. the foul 

 weather breaks up." The author says, " the wind always 

 changes round this way;" but as he lived on the south side 

 of the island, at Spanish Town, it is quite possible, that on 

 the north side of the island, the wind may frequently back 

 round the other way. Indeed, this is highly probable, 

 independent of theory, from the statement made in page 

 608; that " when the wind is S. and S. W. on the south 

 side of the island, it is often northeasterly on the north side, 

 attended with very heavy rains." And again, he says, 

 page 625, " it is curious to remark here the constant seem- 

 ing attraction between the mountains and the rain." The 



