128 WATERSPOUTS. SECT. XV. 



temperate zone, if the gale begins from the S.E. and veers by S. 

 to W., the ship should steer to the S.E. ; but, if the gale begins 

 from the N.E., and changes through N. to N.W., the vessel 

 should go to the N.W. In the northern part of the torrid zone, 

 if the storm begin from the N.E., and veer through E. to S.E., 

 the ship should steer to the N.E. ; but, if it begin from the N.W., 

 and veer by W, to S.W., the ship should steer to the S.W., 

 because she is in the south-western side of the storm. Since the 

 laws of storms are reversed in the southern hemisphere, the rules 

 for steering vessels are necessarily reversed also. A heavy swell 

 is peculiarly characteristic of these storms. In the open sea the 

 swell often extends many leagues beyond the range of the gale 

 which produced it. 



Waterspouts are occasioned by small whirlwinds, which always 

 have their origin at a great distance from that part of the sea 

 from which the spout begins to rise, where it is generally calm. 

 The whirl is produced by two currents of air, which, running in 

 opposite directions, compress one another by their impetus, so 

 that they rise in spiral eddies to the clouds.. They move slowly 

 along the surface of the sea, sometimes in vertical, and some- 

 times in twisted spirals, putting the sea into violent agitation as 

 they pass, and carrying the water aloft by the force of gyration. 

 Occasionally the eddies begin in the clouds and dip down to 

 the sea. 



