326 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



northward, but some eastward. Opposite the houses D, G 

 and I, was a white-oak forest. Here the trees were not 

 generally blown down, but broken off at an elevation from 

 the ground of from twenty to forty feet. The stoutest 

 white oaks of two feet diameter were snapped like a walk- 

 ing cane. I measured the bearings of a large number of 

 the fallen trunks ; they were N. 56 W. ; N. 46 W. ; N. 

 32 Vvr. ; N. 31 W. ; N. 29 W. ; N. 2 E. ; and N. 14 E. 

 Within these limits the bearings of nearly all the trees in 

 this forest were embraced, if we except a few which lay 

 very near the road. Here the trees were thrown down in 

 much greater disorder; thus, directly opposite the house G, 

 and near the road, one tree of immense size fell N. 31 W. 

 Only two rods distant were two others of about the same 

 dimensions, which fell S. 31 E., and then another N. 31 

 W. Thus here were four large trees, side by side, with 

 their trunks as nearly parallel as they could well be laid, 

 while the tops of two pointed northward and those of the 

 other southward. 



The preceding observations will show the direction of the 

 fallen trees as compared with the track of the hurricane, 

 for the latter was almost due east and west, not following 

 absolutely a straight course, yet very nearly so. I have 

 introduced the observations here for the sake of showing 

 how great variety there was in the bearings of the fallen 

 trunks, and also to show that these bearings were actually 

 measured and not loosely estimated by the eye. A general 

 idea of the direction of the trees will be best acquired from 

 the diagram, in which I have attempted to represent their 

 relative positions and bearings. It will then appear from 

 an inspection of the diagram, that in the midst of some dis- 

 order there was a degree of uniformity. Thus upon either 

 border of the track the trees all incline toward some point 

 in the centre of the track. There is not an example of a tree 

 being turned outward from the track, nor even one which 

 lies in a direction parallel to it. I except from this remark 



