514 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



water 3'iclded by the cloud, through the ag-ency, prol^ably, of a whirlwind 

 motion of the air controlling it; but this theory had to be abandoned, aa 

 soon as I completed for myself, the investigation of the facts connected 

 with the great fall of water-spout.«, upon Tusquitta Mountain, ou July 

 8th, 1847. 



An intelligent professional gentleman, who visited the scene soon after 

 its occurrence, described the chasm, excavated in the earth, as having a 

 depth of several feet, with its sides cut out as vertical as if dug with the 

 spade. The roots of the trees and plants, beneath the surface, were cut off 

 as squarely as if done with the knife. At the surface, close up to the sides 

 of the chasm, nothing seemed to be disturbed. The shrubs and grass, and 

 even the fallen leaves upon the ground, remained unmoved, as though no 

 running water had come into contact with them. This was the conditioa 

 of things where the water-spout first struck the earth; and as the excava- 

 tion, at the point of origin had a width of but a few yards, the whole 

 volume of the descending water he concluded, must have been concentrated 

 within that space, and continued thus contracted till the contents of the 

 cloud were exhausted. In descending the mountain, along the line of the 

 widening chasm, evidences existed that the torrent in places, had attained 

 a depth of fifty or sixty feet, uprooting in its course the largest trees, and 

 removing immense rocks from the avenue created in its descent to the val- 

 ley below. 



In all the descriptions given, I had inferred that but a single water-spout 

 bad falleij at the same time, from any one cloud. Such had been the case 

 in the old ones grown up with evergreens. But very different indeed had 

 been the results on Tusquitta Mountain 



In the month of May, 1859, I called upon Robert Martin, Esq., who 

 resides in the Tusquitta valley near the spurs of the Tusquitta Mountain. 

 He had resided there in 184T, when the water-spouts fell upon that moun- 

 tain July eighth. From his statement and that of Mr. Pierce, his neighbor, 

 who also noticed the whole of the movements of the clouds, during the 

 space of three hours, or from first to last, I make up my statement: 



The clouds were some two hours in forming. One group gathered in the 

 soutli-east, another in the south-west, and a third in the south. The unusual 

 commotion among them as they were forming, attracted the attention of 

 these gentlemen, and riveted them to the spot where each one stood, near 

 their own doors a half-mile apart. ' 



When nearly fully formed, the clouds commenced moving rapidly in 

 eddies of many whorls, toward Tusquitta Ball. Salutations of thunder, 

 from the first, passed between them, as though cloud called to cloud, in 

 organizing for the coming conflict. The play of the lightning at first occa- 

 sional, became almost continuous as the, constantly 'accumulating masses 

 ^began to move swiftly toward a common centre; while the thunder increas- 

 ing also in frequency, soon became terrific. In addition to the thunder, 

 and just before the rain began to fall, there came a succession of sharp 

 keen cracking sounds, lasting for ten or fifteen minutes which resembled 

 the sharp crack of the electric spark; and then came a crash as if ten 

 thousand pieces of artillery had been discharged. The earth fairly trembled 

 with the concussion. There was also a loud roaring sound, independent 



