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THE 



utmost fury, to apparently return with the wind in quite the op 1 - 

 posite direction, after an interval of 15 or 20 minutes of perfect 

 calm. The cause of these calms and the course of the air in the 

 focus of a circular storm, is represented in the diagram. 



We have scarcely room to add a description of the famous 

 Rodriguez hurricane of April 1843. Such a fleet of wrecks from 

 one storm never was seen before, having 14 or 15 vessels entan- 

 gled its stormy circuit, some on its skirts, others crossing its path 

 and following its wake, some rushing into the very focus and scud- 

 ding around the vortex till rendered perfectly unmanageable by 

 the fury of the sea and wind ; its course could be tracked for 

 3500 miles, demonstrating beyond a doubt, that it was a vast 

 whirlwind. We give a diagram of its position on the 4th of April, 

 when its centre had just passed over the island of Rodriguez. 

 The arrows represent the positions of the vessels and the direc- 

 tion of the wind, as gathered from the log-books. Though some 

 of these vessels were but a few hundred miles from each other, 

 yet they had the wind from opposite quarters. 



Besides the winds which we have mentioned we may enumerate 

 among local winds, or winds which affect only particular sections 

 of country, the Sirrocco, a hot wind, moist and relaxing, which 

 Visits Naples and the south of Italy, blowing from the opposite 

 shores of the Mediteranean. This wind is very unhealthy; during 

 its continuance all nature seems to languish, the vegetation droops 

 and dies, and the animal spirits are too much exhausted to per- 



