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CHAPTER VII. 



WATERSPOUTS CAUSES OF APPEARANCE ELECTRICITY EXPERI- 

 MENTS ARTIFICIAL WATERSPOUTS SHOWERS OF FISH MR. 

 ELLIS ON WATERSPOUTS IN THE SOUTH SEAS. 



IE turn back now from the atmospheric to 

 the aqueous ocean. Yet so intimate is 

 the connection between the two, that we 

 shall find it impossible to avoid occasional reference 

 to the former. 



Our present subject, waterspouts, obliges us to 

 recur for a little to the atmosphere, which we dis- 

 missed, or attempted to dismiss, in the last chapter. 



There is no doubt that waterspouts are to a great 

 extent, if not altogether, due to the presence of 

 electricity in the air. When the clouds have been 

 raging for some time in the skies of tropical regions, 

 rendering the darkness bright, and the air tremulous 

 with their dread artillery, they seem to grow un- 

 usually thirsty ; the ordinary means of water-supply 

 through the atmosphere do not appear to be suffi- 

 cient for the demand, or war-tax in the shape of 

 water-duty, that is levied on nature. The clouds 



