354 CLIMATE. 



murky colour reflects the bright hue of the sky uovv serene ; and its 

 white-topped waves sparkle in the sun. The wizard of the storm 

 has shaken his wand, and the scene is changed, as though by magic. 



All nature seems invigorated by this short battle of the elements 

 and to be indebted to the bounty of the black squall. Whilst 

 everything before was depressed and lowering, all is now bright 

 and cheerful. Nature has in truth had its accustomed shower- 

 bath, and the reaction that ensues does good to all ; makes men the 

 happier and the stronger, elicits a loud chorus from the lower 

 creation in which bird, reptile, and insect, before hushed in the 

 depressing gloom, now combine in strange medley ; and the inani- 

 mate world shares in the bright change which has followed the 

 storm. 



If it be night, the increased luminosity of the sea may be the 

 warning of the arched squall. The ship throws off a bright wave 

 of pliosphorescence on either side of the bow, and leaves a luminous 

 track in her wake. Overhead the cloudless star-lit sky conveys its 

 warning ; for the stars shine with increased brilliancy, those of less 

 magnitude usually invisible with the naked eye are now distinctly 

 seen ; and if the navigator, who has often tried in vain to count the 

 six stars in the Pleiades, can do so now, let him look out for the 

 black squall. Such are the warnings. Then sweeps along the 

 lowering arched mass with its rain and its waterspouts, its wind 

 and its thunder and licrhtnincr. On it comes, looking all the blacker 

 as it spreads athwart the heavens and turns the star-lit night into a 

 lightless gloom. Overtaken in the night by such a squall, unable to 

 see more than half a cable's length on either side, and perhaps in 

 the vicinity of sunken reefs the position of which is uncertain, a 

 sailor has need of all his wits. On one occasion, when in this situa- 

 tion, we came unexpectedly in soundings, whilst, as we thought, a 

 hundred good fathoms and more lay beneath our keel. The time 

 was anxious, but nothing could be done until the squall was over. 

 When the arch has passed, the stars begin to show themselves, and 

 in a short time they shine out with all their lustre. 



With this description of the rain-squall, or black-squall, or arched- 

 squall, as it may be also conveniently termed, I return to the con- 

 sideration of the rainfall of this region ; and first with regard to 

 the observations at the east end of the Solomon Group. During 

 1883, 125"03 inches of rain were measured at Santa Anna, a small 

 island lying at the extreme eastern limit of tliese islands. Two- 



