100 COURSE OF THE STORM. 



The bad weather in the Victoria then would appear 

 to have been caused by the proximity of the southern 

 edge of this storm as it passed to the westward. 

 The fact of the time when the weather was the worst, 

 having been the same at Port Essington, and in 

 the Victoria ; and of the French discovery ships 

 meeting it in Torres Strait first, shews the westerly 

 course of the storm. Its northern edfje did not 

 reach Coepang, but a strong gale from the south- 

 west on the 26th shewed that it was passing. Most 



" At daylight the harometer rose slowly to 29'90, the gale 

 moderated, and the sea went down so fast, that between seven 

 and eight we were able to send a boat to the assistance of the 

 Pelorus : after eight the breeze continued to blow strong from 

 the northward for two days, with heavy rain. 



" The occurrence of such a hurricane must be very rare, as tbe 

 natives were as much astonished as ourselves, and came to beg 

 for shelter : they have no name for it, and no tradition of any- 

 thing of the sort having happened before : the state in which the 

 very extensive fences at Raffles Bay were in shortly before, must 

 prove that the trees had never been blown down in the way they 

 were on the 25th of November, since that settlement was 

 abandoned in 1829. 



" The extent of the hurricane must have been very limited : 

 at Coepang a strong gale from the south-west was experienced, 

 and also between Java and Timor on the 26th, but the wind did 

 not change. Even 18 miles north, at Vashon Head, the change of 

 wind must have been greater though equal in force. There the 

 first trees fell with the wind from W.S.W. ; a few fell when the 

 wind was east, and most when the wind was north-west. The 

 Malays have an idea that every fifth year the monsoon is stronger 

 than usual, but can give no reason for thinking so. According 

 to them this monsoon ought to have been a strong one." 



