218 THE THUNDER-STORM. 



but if the surface of the earth is flat, the lower sur- 

 face of the cloud also continues flat till it is near 

 the earth ; and then its approach is not without 

 danger, as the longer that the cloud holds together, 

 the stroke is the more violent ; but then, although 

 more powerful, the flashes of lightning are fewer 

 than if partial discharges took place. When the 

 discharges from an equal accumulation of cloud are 

 partial, there is little action between the different 

 strata of the cloud, until there has been action be- 

 tween the lower stratum and the earth ; and in those 

 cases each stratum of cloud descends and thunders 

 to the earth. At such times the curlings of the dif- 

 ferent parts of the cloud are very striking, for they 

 are so dense that they all seem solid, and as there is 

 air between them, the openings appear to penetrate 

 many miles into the sky, and yet it may happen that 

 the most distant cloud is the blackest ; as the lower 

 ones, that have discharged their thunder, are melt- 

 ing in rain, and as they then allow a passage to the 

 red light, the lower sky is exceedingly murky. The 

 fall of the rain is often as fantastical. After each peal, 

 which reverberates as if a stone arch were rattling 

 down in pieces, the rain falls with the headlong rush 

 of water when it bursts its barrier ; but the rain is 

 often over before the last echo of the thunder-clap 

 has ceased. Yet the silence and cessation of rain 

 are of very short duration ; for it is barely fair, when 

 another black mass descends, discharges its thunder, 

 and lets fall its rain ; and that is succeeded by another, 

 and another, till the whole cloud is exhausted. 

 Sometimes those splendid clouds sail majestically 

 over without disturbing the atmosphere through 

 which they pass ; but when they do break, there are 

 no atmospheric phenomena so sublime, or that im- 

 body so much of varied information in so short a 

 time. The impressiveness of thunder-storms ren- 

 ders them among the best studies for beginners in 

 the observation of nature. There is often a sul- 



