202 



pidlty. Sea birds quit the air^ ami seek the shore. Soon 

 utter a north breeze spring* up, which comes to the 

 north-tast. Afterwards it is south and south-east, and 

 the air is darkened by a black cloud. 



In the h=st hurricane, the wind stood at north-east, 

 and blew with such violence, that the lur^t trees were 

 turn up by the root:* their trunks brokt u io pieces, and 

 not a ieat left on those other tries, which ufkied to the 

 iary or the w inds-. The hou es were thrown down, and 

 the tops of the suiw-rmtls, which could* not well be 

 thrown down, were crushed in pieces. At the end of a" 

 hurricane we tee lightning, and hear the lioise of thun- 

 der. Tiutti the wind -soften* gradually, till all becomes 

 quiet. 



When there vva? a violent hurricane at Guadeloupe, 

 there appeared upon the island, a thick black cloud, 

 which seemed on tire, and gravitating toward tire earth, 

 It occupied a space of five or six leagues in front. 

 Above it the air was almost clear, there appearing only 

 a kind of mist. The whole force of a hurricane is 

 lodged in the very body of a cloud, containing wind, 

 rain, lightning* and thunder .* where the air is com-* 

 pressed, and roiling upon itself, causes the storms, 

 which nothing cau resist. Nor does the hurricane end., 

 till the cloud- bursts-, and the thiwider and lightning 

 come on* 



One species of hurricanes is that which is termed "a wa- 

 ter-spout. These are seen to descend tVoin a cloud as a 

 pillar, having two motions, one round their own axis, the 

 other progressive in a strait direction. Such a spout is a- 

 - gyration of clouds, by contrary winds meeting in the 

 centre, and there (where the condensation and gravita- 

 tion are greatest) .sink ing down into a great tube, like a4 

 screw. In its working and whirling, it sucks and raises 

 the water, in the same-manner as the spiral aciew does. 

 One of these sometimes- appears -on the land. On June 

 21, some >ears since, the clouds near Halfield, in York- 

 shire, were oj^erved to be much agitated mid driven to* 



