June 13, 1872] 



NATURE 



121 



The Asiatic orijjin of the Esquimaux seems to me to be a very 

 problematical solution of the difficulty. There are Esquimaux 

 in Asia undoubtedly. The so-called Tchuktchi of Tchuktchi 

 Ness are Esquimaux, but they are a very small fragment, and 

 are apparently emigrants from the opposite shores of Behring 

 .Straits. Between them and the American Esquimaux there is 

 a consideraljle intercourse, which has led to the products of 

 Russian manufacture being found along the shores of the Arctic 

 Ocean ; and the American Esquimaux constantly pass the Straits 

 for purposes of barter. Beyond the fragment of this people 

 found at the extreme north eastern part of Asia, and a few of 

 the Kamskatkans, I know of no Asiatic race whose language, or 

 custom, or ]>hysique, favours the opinion that they are connected 

 with the Esquimaux. The course of migration has rathf r been 

 westerly and easterly. The Tchuktchi proper and the Koriaks, who 

 are a very different race from the Tchuktchi of Tchuktchi Ness, 

 have been pressing to the west", and have uprooted numerous tribes, 

 such as theOraoki, &c These latter were portions of a widely- 

 spread race now represented by 'he fast-diminishing Jukagiri, 

 whose language, so far as 1 have examined it, is very different 

 from the Esquimaux (a copious vocabulary maybe seen in Billing's 

 traveU). Again, between the travels of Cooke and those of 

 Whymper, the language of the inhabitants of Kotzebue Sound 

 has changed considerably, and become more Esquimaux, wliich 

 seems to show that the Esquimaux have quite recently been 

 pressing in this direction also. 



All these facts point to apparently only one conclusion, that 

 the original heme of the E-quimaux was in the regions near the 

 Pole, irom which they ha\e migrated to a more temperate 

 climate ; and I can see no good cause for .'uch migration, except 

 the increasing rigour of the tlimate. The cjuestion is one of 

 great interest, both to ethnology and physical geography, and I 

 hope Dr. Rae will favour your I'eaders with some more facts on 

 the other side 



While the evidence seems to be overpowering that the climate 

 has been gradually growing more severe in the highest latitudes, 

 there is a good deal of evidtnce which points to a corre.'-ponding 

 decrease of severity elsewhere. We cannot read the descriptions 

 of Gaul and Germany in Roman times and reconcile them to the 

 state of things that at present exists there, without believing that 

 the climate has very much improved. It is rash to take isolated 

 seasons, but we may compare with ]:>rofit the accounts of the 

 terrible winters of Roman da)S, during which the Rhine and 

 Danube were frequently frozen over, with the cont]>aralive 

 mildness of modern times. The reindeer and the elk then 

 ranged far to south of their preserrt habitat. Ovid's lamentations 

 over the fearful severity of his place of exile on the coast of 

 Thrace are matched by the accounts of white foxes, iS:c., which 

 then Irved there, and by the proverbial rigour of the winters on 

 the coasts of the Black Sea j while the diminution in the energy 

 and vigour of the races that inhabit the Mediterranean border- 

 land can best be accounted fi r by the theory which makes them 

 to have in some measure succumbed to a more enervating climate. 

 If this be true, we have a very remarkable fact hitherto ignored, 

 so far as I know, by scientific men, namely, that it is possible 

 that circumpolar climate may have been very temperate when 

 the climate of more southern latitudes was very severe. This 

 paradox, upon which I should very much like to have the 

 opinion of some of ycur correspondents, is favoured by the 

 following fact : — " It is a common remark of those who frequent 

 the Polar seas, that they find always the least obstruction from 

 ice when the preceding winter has been very severe in more 

 southern latitudes. In the year 1766, though the frost had 

 proved most intense through the rest of Europe, the whaltis 

 reached a high latitude ; and not to multiply instances, the three 

 last seasons (i.e. 1815, 16, and 17), which have been reckoned 

 very open, have succeeded to winters notoriously cold and pro- 

 tracted," Edinlmrgh Rcz'tciv, 30, 34). Weha\eonlyto exiend 

 the analogy of a seasotr to a nunrber of seasons, and we at once 

 get a simrLar result to the one above named, i.e., that an increase 

 of severity of climate in low latitudes is balanced by a diminution 

 of severity in high orrcs. I need hardly point the moral in the 

 ]resent letter of the value of such a result in specula- 

 tions on the existence of the mammoth in Siberia and Northern 

 Russia during the Glacial epoch, iXc. 



Derby House, Eccles, June 4 Henry H. IIoworth 



Origin of Cyclones 

 In Nature of August 17, 1S71, Mr-. J. J. Murphy 

 calls attention to a paper by Mr. Meldrum on the origin of 



storms in the Bay of Bengal, &c. This paper advocates the 

 theory of their origin "in the meeting of the trade-winds in the 

 northern and southern hemispheres, at some distance north or 

 south of the equator." 



Mr. Murphy says: — "Over the greater part of the Pacific 

 cyclones do not appear to be found. The reason of this probably 

 is that, in consequence of the temperature of the sea changing 

 but little with the seasons, the two trade-winds over the Pacific 

 meet each other nearly on the equator all the year round ; though 

 I do not know how far this is confirmed by observations on the 

 winds of that ocean." 



Very little is known about the meteorology of this part of the 

 Pacific, and nry object in writing is to communicate to Mr. 

 Murphy and others who may be interested in the subject the 

 lolluwing facts : — 



I. There is I'aiely a year without at least one cyclone passing 

 through, or in the neighbourhood of, one of the following gi'oups 

 of islands, viz., Fiji, Samoa, or Hervey. 



2. The cyclone season extends over a greater part of [he 

 period during wdiich the sun is south of the equator ; conse- 

 qirently, when the trade-winds from the north reach farthest 

 south. Cyclones are most prevalent about the middle of the 

 season, or rather later than the middle. They rarely visit us 

 earlier than Deceniber or January. 



3 They are usually preceded for a few days by strong northerly 

 wiiid.s. During such winds we watch the barometer very care- 

 fully, as a sudden fall is a sure indication of a cyclone near at 

 hand. 



I may add that a strong northerly wind is blowing in this 

 group at the present time. It was indicated by the barometer 

 thirty-six hours before it reached us, and was preceded by a day's 

 calm. It then burst upon us suddenly with fury, but after a few 

 hours moderated to about the force of the S.E. trade-wind. 



S. J. WlUTMEE 



Leulumoega, Samoa, South Pacific, Jan. 8 



P. S.— Since the date of my last note we have had two earth- 

 quakes — Nov. 13, at 5.5 P.M., vertical, with a great rumbling 

 preceding and accompanying it; Dec. 15, at 12 noon: double 

 shotk, wilh an interval of thirty seconds : slight. 



Rain after Fire 



Si'ME old settlers believe that great bush fiirs cause rain; 

 During this summer exceptionally dry weather has prevailed 

 over the giea'er part of New Zealand, more especially alor g the 

 eastern coast ; in several of the towns prayers for rain have bten 

 offered up in ihe churches. I beg to send some notes of recent 

 date cxtracled from our home diary. It should be stated that 

 this di.sliict, adjoining Banks' Peninsula, has been suffering 

 from extensive bush fires since the l8th of last month. 



"Feb. I. Strong N.-Wester ; very hot; 92° in the shade 

 under the back verandah. Heavy^bush fire on the hill still 

 burning ; showers in Ihe evening." 



On the coast here it is very unusual to have rain with a N.W. 

 wind, which is dry and parching. 



"Feb. 3. Strong N.-Easter ; showers in the evening." 



The bush fire was still burning, and continued to do so till Ihe 

 7th. On the 5tli most of the neighbours turned out to save 

 some properly in great danger of being destroyed by the fire. 

 N. E. is a cool dry wind from the sea. 



"Feb. 16. Strong N.E. Heavy bush fire under Omauhate 

 and about Cass Peak. .Slight showers from the S.W. in the 

 morning ; wind veered round to N.E." 



Uur rainy quarter is S. W. with a low temperalure ; less fre- 

 quently wc experience thick weather from S.E. , scccnipanied 

 by fine rain. These fires have been traversing a range of hills 

 (more or less timbered in the gullits), their heights ircm eleven 

 to about fcur himdred feet above the level of the sea. I believe 

 the showers noted to have been as local as the fires ; the direction 

 of the wind is given as prevalent on the dates mtnlioned, with 

 some indication as to its strength, but we have no memoranda as 

 to its force during the actual fall of rain. Opportunities of 

 watching the gradual formation of cumulus cloud above dense 

 volumes of smoke are by no means rare in this part of New 

 Zealand, where the occupiers of Crown land have periodical 

 burnings of their run, or great portions thereof, in early spring. 

 These notes are forwarded in the hope of helping to illustrate 

 the question of whether fires cause rain, ro opinion is ventured 

 on the subject, but this curious phenomenon should be further 

 investigated. Thomas H. Potts 



Ohinitahi, New Zealand, Feb. 19] 



