36 Rain and Thunder. 



suining its contour ; but the illusion was not so 

 perfect, because seen from a more open spot, allow- 

 ing an extended view of the range, and because the 

 cloud was lighter in color than the hill to which it 

 clung. 



These clouds were, of course, passing at a very low 

 elevation above the earth : in rain}' weather, although 

 but a few hundred feet high, the ridges are frequently 

 obscured with cloud. The old folk in the vale, whose 

 whole lives have been spent watching and waiting on 

 the weather, say that the hills ' draw ' the thunder — 

 that wherever a storm arises it alwa3'S ' draws ' 

 towards them. If it comes from the west it often 

 splits — one storm going along the ridges to the 

 south, and the other passing over detached hills to 

 the northward ; so that the basin between is rarely 

 visited by thunder overhead. They have, too, an 

 old superstition — based apparently on a text of 

 the Bible — that the thunder always rises originally 

 in the north, though it ma^^ reach them from a differ- 

 ent direction. For it is their belief also that thunder 

 ' works round ; ' so that after a heavy storm, say in 

 the afternoon, when the air is cleared to all appear- 

 ance, they will tell you that the sunshine and calm 

 are a deception. In a few hours' time, or in the 

 course of the night, the storm will return, having 

 ' worked round ; ' and indeed in that localit}^ this is 

 very often the case. It is to be observed that even 

 a small copse will for a short distance in its rear 

 quite divert the course of a breeze ; so that a 

 weathercock placed on the leeside is entirel}' un- 

 trustworthy : if the wind really blows from the south 

 and over the copse, the weathercock will sometimes 



