146 OF PROGNOSTICS. CHAP. 4. 3. 



Whea cumuli sailing along have their fleecy 

 protuberances curling inward, variable weather 

 may be expected, such cumuli often rapidly 

 anastomose with cirri or with cirrostratus above 

 them, and produce showers. 



When a dense and uniform veil of cloud 

 covers the sky, as is often the case before Rain, 

 with a still air, musick and noises are heard a 

 great way off, which has caused the far propa- 

 gation of sounds to be regarded as a prognostick 

 of Rain. The sound of distant church bells in 

 the country often serves this prognosticative 

 purpose. I remember well, being in Cornwall 

 in August, 1804, that the bells of St. Vepe 

 on such occasions could be heard as far as 

 Boconnoc. 



In Wales the common people say, that when 

 the mountains have their nightcaps on, the 

 Rain will soon fall. 



While I was in Wales, in 1814, during a 

 .showery time, the peaks of the mountains were 

 generaly capped with clouds of the low and 

 nimbiform kind. The clearness of the tops of 

 mountains is, on the contrary, a sign of the 



I was told this by some French sailors, while crossing from 

 Calais, in 1815, and M. Herschel mentioned having noticed 

 often the same thing. 



