TROPICAL TORNADO. 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE DIVEKSITY OF CLIMATES WITHIN THE TROPICS. 



Causes by which it is produced — Abundance and Distribution of Eain within 

 the Tropics— The Trade Winds— The Belt of Calms— Tropical Rains— Tlie 

 Monsoons — Tornados — Cyclones — Typhoons — Storms in the Pacific — 

 Devastations caused by Hurricanes on Pitcairn Island and Earotonga. 



ON surveying the various regions of the torrid zone, we find 

 that Nature has made many wonderful provisions to miti- 

 gate the heat of the vertical sun, to endow the equatorial lands 

 with an amazing variety of climate, and to extend the benefit 

 of the warmth generated within the tropics to countries situated 

 far beyond their bounds. 



Thus, while the greater part of the northern temperate zone 

 is occupied by land, the floods of ocean roll over by far the 

 greater portion of the equatorial regions — for both torrid 

 America and Africa appear as mere islands in a vast expanse 

 of sea. 



The conversion of water, by evaporation, into a gaseous form 

 is accompanied by the abstraction of heat from surrounding 

 bodies, or, in popular language, by the production of cold ; and 

 thus over the surface of the ocean the rays of the sun have a 

 tendency to check their own warming influence, and to impart 



