1888.] occurred at Dacca on April 7tli, 1888. 211 



this point the tornado seems to have passed high into the air, making 

 only a final dash downwards at the Municipal Secretary's bath-room and 

 one or two trees in the kachari gardens, the College, and in the Com- 

 missioner's compound. The last indications given are those of its an- 

 terior radius, and show it as departing in a north-easterly direction. The 

 exact track of the tornado as it passed through Dacca is shewn in PL 

 XXVIII., and a more detailed map of that part of its track in which the 

 greatest amount of damage was done is given in PI. XXIX. 



In no part of its course did its breadth exceed 200 paces ; where it 

 struck the Buckland Bund it was only 180 paces broad. It travelled al- 

 together over a distance of only 3 J miles. Its rate of progress is not easy 

 to ascertain. Nawab Ahsanullah tells me that he had been watching the 

 progress of the " Nor' -Wester" all the evening; when, about 7 p. m., 

 a servant came and informed him that there was a very peculiar ap- 

 pearance in the west. He went to the west end of the south verandah 

 of the inner apartments, and there saw what looked like a glowing cloud 

 in the direction of the Lalbagh. He stood looking at it for about three 

 minutes, during which time it seemed to be stationary. He then went 

 inside, where he had not been two minutes before the storm was on the 

 house. Supposing the tornado had reached the Lalbagh when he left 

 the verandah, and that it was three minutes before it reached the Ahsan- 

 manzil, and that the route followed by the tornado was a mile and a half 

 during that interval, — the rate of progress would be one mile in two 

 minutes or 30 miles an hour. The Serang of the " Star of Dacca," who 

 watched it from the time it crossed from the direction of the Lalbagh 

 till it struck the Nawab's palace (the " Star" being anchored within 

 the angle described by the tornado between these points), speaks of its 

 having travelled with great rapidity. On the other hand, Khajeh Amir- 

 ulla, who witnessed its progress over the same distance, estimates the 

 time at 10 or 12 minutes, but admits that it may have been less. I my- 

 self saw from the Club verandah a low black cloud passing rapidly over 

 the houses to the west in a north-easterly direction, and I estimate that 

 its progress was not faster than that of a train on the Eastern Bengal 

 State Railway, that is about 20 miles an hour. We have, however, 

 considerable unanimity as to the period occupied by the storm in passing 

 over any given spot : almost every one says it did not occupy more than 

 a minute and a half. Considering the excited state of mind of those over 

 whora it passed, this estimate may I think be safely cut down to one 

 minute. Taking the distance between the extreme front of the anterior 

 radius and the subsidence of the violent gusts which followed in its 

 wake as 300 yards, we arrive at a rate of progress of a mile in 5| minutes 

 nearly, or roughly 12 miles an hour. 



