453 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Boiling amain beneath its mighty whirl, 

 And with destruction sure the stoutest ship 

 Threatening that dares the boist'rous scene approach." 



Waterspouts exhibit various aspects, but a frequent appearance has been thus described, 

 as it has been observed at sea. Under a dense cloud, a circular area of the ocean, in 

 diameter from 100 to 120 yards, shows great disturbance, the water rushing towards the 

 centre of the agitated mass, from whence it rises in a spiral manner towards the clouds, 

 assuming a trumpet-shape, with the broad end downwards. At the same time, the cloud 

 assumes a similar form, but the position of the cone is inverted, and its lower extremity, 

 or apex, gradually unites with the upper extremity of the ascending column of water. 

 At the point of junction, the diameter is not more than two or three feet. There is thus 

 a column of water and vapour formed, extending from the sea to the cloud, thin in the 

 middle, and broad at the two extremities, the sides of which are dark, which gives it the 

 appearance of a hollow tube. It moves with the wind, and even in calm weather, when 

 no wind is perceptible, the position shifts. Sometimes the spout preserves the 

 perpendicular in its motion, but frequently, from the wind not acting with equal force 

 upon its upper and lower extremities, or the one being more susceptible of impulsion than 

 the other, it assumes an inclined position, and the column is speedily ruptured by the 

 , unequal velocity of its parts. A few. minutes suffices in general for the duration of the 

 phenomenon, but several have been known to continue for near an hour. Instances of 

 repeated disruption and formation have been witnessed, and in the Mediterranean, as 

 many as sixteen waterspouts have been observed at the same time. The mariners of 

 former days were accustomed to discharge artillery at these moving columns, to accelerate 

 their fall, fearful of their ships being crossed by them, and sunk or damaged a practice 

 alluded to by Falconer in the opening of the second canto of The Shipwreck : but the 

 principal danger arises from the wind blowing in sudden gusts in their vicinity, from all 

 points of the compass, sufficient to capsize small vessels carrying much sail. Waterspouts 

 on land are not uncommon, and in this case there is no ascending column of water, but 

 only a descending inverted cone of vapour. Viv4d flashes of lightning frequently issue 

 from them, and deluges of rain attend their disruption. A remarkable spout appeared 

 and burst on Emott Moor, near Coin in Lancashire, in the year 1718, about a mile distant 

 from some labourers digging peat, whose attention was directed to it by hearing an 

 unusual noise in the air. Upon leaving the spot in alarm, they found a small rippling 

 stream converted into a roaring flood, though no rain had fallen on the moor ; and at the 

 immediate scene of action, the earth had been swept away to the depth of seven feet, the 

 naked rock appeared, arid an excavation had been made in the ground by the force of the 

 water discharged from the spout, upwards of half a mile in length. 



It is a time of fear and peril to man and beast when the hurricane developes its giant 

 strength, yet, contemplated apart from the probability of some fatal catastrophe, there is 

 no scene more intensely sublime in the varied panorama of nature, than that exhibited 

 to the senses of sight and hearing, by the dense black masses of clouds that roll in wild 

 confusion through the air, the tumultuous aspect of the ocean, the agitation of the woods, 

 and the voice of the tempest, varying from the melancholy wail, to the piercingly shrill 

 cry and deafening roar, and occasionally combining every kind of intonation in its sound. 

 However destructive these extraordinary agitations of the atmosphere however terrible 

 such a situation as that of ^Eneas on the stormy sea, helpless and hopeless, stretching his 

 folded hands to the stars, and lamenting that he had not fallen with fierce Hector on the 

 Ilian plains it is unquestionable, that neither " breeze, or gale, or storm," could be dis- 

 pensed with in the economy of nature ; for the various forms of life which the common 

 air sustains, are preserved in vigour by that conflict of the elements which works occa- 



