EFFECTS OF A HURRICANE. 103 



motion, but circular. They are, in fact, enormous 

 whirlwinds, sometimes upwards of one hundred and 

 fifty miles in diameter; and they not only whirl 

 round their own centres, but advance steadily for- 

 ward through space. 



In the year 1831, a memorable and dreadful series 

 of storms passed" over some of the West India 

 Islands, and caused terrible havoc, especially in the 

 island of Barbadoes. The peculiarity of these hur- 

 ricanes was that they ravaged the different islands at 

 different dates, and were therefore supposed to be 

 different storms. Such, however, was not the case. 

 It was one mighty cyclone, or circular storm, a 

 gigantic whirlwind, which traversed that region 

 at the rate of about sixteen miles an hour. It was 

 not its progressive, but its rotatory motion, that con- 

 stituted its terrible power. On the 10th of August 

 it reached Barbadoes; on the llth, the islands of St. 

 Vincent and St. Lucia; on the 12th it touched the 

 southern coast of Porto Rico; on the 13th it swept 

 over part of Cuba; on the 14th it encountered 

 Havanna; on the 17th it reached the northern 

 shores of the Gulf of Mexico and travelled on to 

 New Orleans, where it raged till the 1 8th. It thus, 

 in six days, passed, as a whirlwind of destruction, 

 over two thousand three hundred miles of land and 

 sea. It was finally dissipated amid heavy rains. 



The effect of a hurricane is well described by 

 Washington Irving. "About mid-day," he says, " a 

 furious gale sprang up from the east, driving before 



