160 Things not generally Known. 



eleven in the evening a torrent of rain burst upon Paris, in spite of- the 

 pretended influence of the discharge of cannon, and gave an occasion 

 for the mobile Gallic mind to turn its attention in other directions. 



TERRIFIC HAILSTORM. 



Jansen describes, from the log-book of the Rhijin, Captain 

 Brandligt, iii the South -Indian Ocean (25 south latitude) 

 a Hurricane, accompanied by Hail, by which several of the 

 crew were made blind, others had their faces cut open, and 

 those who were in the rigging had their clothes torn off them. 

 The master of the ship compared the sea " to a hilly landscape 

 in winter covered with snow." Does it not appear as if the 

 " treasures of the hail" were opened, which were "reserved 

 against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and 

 war" ? 



HOW WATERSPOUTS ARE FORMED IN THE JAVA SEA. 



Among the small groups of islands in this sea, in the day 

 and night thunderstorms, the combat of the clouds appears to 

 make them more thirsty than ever. In tunnel form, when they 

 can no longer quench their thirst from the surrounding atmo- 

 sphere, they descend near the surface of the sea, and appear to 

 lap the water directly up with their black mouths. They are 

 not always accompanied by strong winds; frequently more 

 than one is seen at a time, whereupon the clouds whence they 

 proceed disperse, and the ends of the Waterspouts bending 

 over finally causes them to break in the middle. They seldom 

 last longer than five minutes. As they are going away, the 

 bulbous tube, which is as palpable as that of a thermometer, 

 becomes broader at the base ; and little clouds, like steam from 

 the pipe of a locomotive, are continually thrown off from the 

 circumference of the spout, and gradually the water is re- 

 leased, and the cloud whence the spout came again closes its 

 mouth. 



COLD IN HUDSON'S BAY. 



Mr. R. M. Ballantyne, in his journal of six years' residence 

 in the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, tells us, that 

 for part of October there is sometimes a little warm, or rather 

 thawy, weather ; but after that, until the following April, the 

 thermometer seldom rises to the freezing point. In the depth 

 of winter, the thermometer falls from 30 to 40, 45, and even 

 49 below zero of Fahrenheit. This intense cold is not, however, 

 so much felt as one might suppose ; for during its continuance 

 the air is perfectly calm. Were the slightest breath of wind 

 to rise when the thermometer stands so low, no man could 

 show his face to it for a moment. Forty degrees below zero, 



