348 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



as if attracted or twisted into a rising tumulus by the 

 cloud, or formed by the whirlwind: Arid now, two of the 

 columns were perpendicular, resting upon a mount of foam- 

 ing, roaring, waves a perfect 



" Hell of waters." 



I should say, that from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 

 dred feet above the sea, these columns were transparent as 

 crystal, and the water might be seen swiftly travelling up 

 them. This appearance lasted for six minutes and a half, 

 the third spout never reaching the sea at all. Meanwhile, 

 the entire aqueous pageant was slowly and magnificently 

 moving towards the north; but at last, the two columns 

 broke, one after the other, near the sea. Within a few 

 seconds, the rain descended in such torrents that I can only 

 compare its fury to the playing of ten thousand millions of 

 fire engines, pointed perpendicularly down from the sky. 

 Ten minutes after, scarcely a cloud was to be seen ; and the 

 sun blazed with a heat intense enough to " broil a beef steak 

 upon a cannon." 



And thus ends our adventure with the water spouts. 



From M. Peltier, on Trombes. 



183. Towards the end of August, 1838, about 3, P. M. 

 a tornado passed near Providence, in Rhode Island. The 

 rain was falling says Mr. Z. Allen,, in a letter to Pro- 

 fessor Hare, with violence, when he saw a black cloud, in 

 the midst of other brilliant and fleecy clouds, assume a ter- 

 rible aspect, form itself into a black elongated cone, extend- 

 ing down to the surface of the earth. 



Whilst he observed the progress of this cloud and of the 

 cone which it led along in its train, and which touched the 

 ground with its lower extremity, he saw black bodies, like 

 a flight of black birds, with wings displayed, fall on the 

 ground as if projected from the lower part of the clouds. 



