256 Water Spouts. 



This, however, was no doubt caused by a difference in the cur- 

 rent of air above and below, and I observed that some of the others, 

 more distant from the ship, would occasionally vary from a perpen- 

 dicular line and then resume it. 



While the spout was thus moving slowly by us, we had a good 

 opportunity of observing it attentively, and, as we were well con- 

 vinced that it' was not to be broken or dispersed by the concussion of 

 firing, the gun was secured. 



Around the base of the spout for several feet, the sea was con- 

 siderably agitated, and a few feet above, a gyratory motion was very 

 distinct, tending upward, and accompanied by a whizzing noise, 

 something like that made by a small quantity of steam escaping 

 through a valve which is not very tight. 



The tube of the spout was apparently four or five feet in diameter, 

 and its surface well defined. Its color was light and misty, but we 

 observed that they all looked darker at a distance than when close to 

 us. Its shape was somewhat like a trumpet — the small end down- 

 wards, and spreading out suddenly as it united with the cloud. At 

 a height of between twenty and thirty feet from the water, a number 

 of sea-birds were flying around it, evidently in quest of food. They 

 were in rapid motion, flitting and crossing each other's paths at eve- 

 ry moment, darting in towards the tube, wheeling away, and then as 

 hastily returning. In the mean time, the cloud above, which had 

 rapidly grown denser and larger, began to exhibit corruscations of 

 electricity. The spout which had passed off to a distance of about 

 three hundred yards, after having been visible more than twenty min- 

 utes, became smaller at its lower part, and then gradually rose un- 

 til entirely lost in the cloud, part of which still hung over us. Soon 

 after this, several severe flashes of lightning struck near to the ship, 

 and the rain began to fall in large and very cold drops. Some of the 

 sailors who believed that the water was taken up in a body to the 

 clouds, tasted the rain as it fell on the deck, and were very much as- 

 tonished to find it perfectly fresh. A light breeze now sprang up, 

 bearing the cloud off to the Westward, which as it passed on, assum- 

 ed the appearance of a heavy squall, and from its accelerated motion, 

 it was evidently carried on by a strong wind. 



In another instance on board the same ship, we were one day sail- 

 ing with a light breeze from the Westward, all sail set, and the weath- 

 er mild and pleasant. Light fleecy clouds were occasionally passing 

 over the ship, but unattended by any increase of wind. I was offi- 



