454 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



wind and rain, with intervening calms, prevailed till midnight, when the lightning 

 flashed fearfully, and a gale blew fiercely from the north and north-east. At one A.M. 

 the wind increased, but suddenly shifted its quarter, blowing from north-west and inter- 

 mediate points. Towards three o'clock, after a little intermission, the hurricane again burst 

 from the western points, hurling before it thousands of missiles the fragments of every 

 unsheltered work of human art. The strongest houses vibrated to their foundations, and 

 the surface of the earth trembled as the destroyer passed over it. There was no thunder 

 at any time distinctly heard, but the horrible roar and yelling of the wind, the noise of 

 the ocean, whose waves threatened the destruction of every thing in Barbadoes that the 

 other elements might spare, the clattering of tiles, the falling of roofs and walls, and the 

 combination of a thousand other sounds, formed a hideous and appalling din. As 

 soon as the dawn rendered outward objects visible, and, the storm abating, permitted the 

 inhabitants of Bridgetown to venture out, a grand but distressing picture of ruin presented 

 itself. From the summit of the cathedral tower, the whole face of the country appeared 

 the wreck of its former condition. No sign of vegetation could be observed, except here 

 and there a few patches of sickly green. The surface of the ground exhibited the 

 scorching and blackening effect of the lightning. A few remaining trees, stripped of their 

 boughs and foliage, wore a cold and wintry aspect ; and the numerous villas in the 

 neighbourhood, formerly concealed amid thick groves, were exposed and in ruins. 



In the year 1837, three hurricanes occurred in the West Indies, and adjacent parts of 

 the Atlantic, the narratives of which, as collected by Colonel Reid from different 

 observers, present some singular features. The first passed over Barbadoes on the 26th of 

 July. The sky assumed a blue-black appearance, with a red glare at the verge of the 

 horizon. The flashes of lightning were accompanied with a whizzing noise, like that of a 

 red-hot iron plunged in water. The barometer and sympiesometer fell rapidly and sunk 

 to 28'45 inches. The Antigua hurricane, the second of that year, commenced in the 

 Atlantic, on the night of the 31st of July, and was encountered by Captain Seymour, in 

 the brigantine Judith and Esther of Cork. He observed near the zenith a white 

 appearance of a round form, and while looking *stedfastly at it, a sudden gust of wind 

 carried away the topmast and lower scudding sails. During the hurricane the eyes of 

 the crew were remarkably affected, their sight became dim, and every one of \k%\? finger- 

 nails turned quite black, and remained so nearly five weeks afterwards. The captain 

 inferred, from the universality of the effect, that it could not have been produced by the 

 firmness of the grasp with which they were holding by the rigging, but that the whole 

 was caused by an electric body in the elements. On the 2nd of August, in another 

 situation, the Water Witch was caught by the skirts of the same storm, the wind blowing 

 in squalls from the W. and N.N.W. till the evening, when "a calm succeeded," states 

 Captain Newby, " for about ten minutes ; and then, in the most tremendous unearthly 

 screech I ever heard, it recommenced from the south and south-west." The third hurricane 

 of the year was met with by the Rawlins, about midnight of the 18th of August, when, after 

 blowing violently for twelve hours from the north, in an instant a perfect calm ensued for 

 an hour, and then, quick as thought, the wind sprung up with tremendous force from the 

 south-west, no swell whatever preceding the convulsion. During this hurricane, an extra- 

 ordinary phenomenon presented itself, resembling a solid black perpendicular wall about 

 15 or 20 above the horizon, which disappeared and became visible again several times, 

 described by one of the observers, as " the most appalling sight he had ever seen during 

 his life at sea." A similar spectacle is described by an officer on board the king's ship 

 Tartarus, during a hurricane on the American coast in the year 1814 : "No horizon 

 appeared, but only a something resembling an immense wall within ten yards of the ship." 

 The power of the wind was remarkably exemplified, during the great hurricane of 1780, 



