214 Pedler and Crombie — On the Tornadc which [No. 2, 



to the Saiikari bazar. As soon as the storm cloud passed, there was an 

 instant's silence, the stars shone out bright and clear, and then came 

 through the still air the long wail of the injured and houseless. 



I have reserved till now the discussion of the origin of this tor- 

 nado. I do not think it can be dismissed with the remarks that it 

 originated as all tornados do, and as we see them constantly do on a 

 small scale on a hot dusty highway, by the impact of two currents of 

 air flowing in different directions, and which thus after their impact 

 assume a rotatory motion. I do not say that this one did not so origin- 

 ate somewhere, but that there are good grounds for the belief that it did 

 not so originate at Hazaribagh, where its destructive course began. I 

 believe that it was already a whirlwind of great force before it touched 

 ground at that place. 



My reasons for this belief, which is at first sight improbable, are to 

 my mind insuperable. They are as follows : — 



All day, as usual at this season, a strong south or south-easterly 

 breeze had been blowing. About 5 p. m., the low grumbling of an ap- 

 proaching " nor'-wester " became audible, and a dull slate-blue bank of 

 clouds was seen coming up in the teeth of the wind from the north-west 

 lit up by occasional flashes of lightning. About 6-30 p. m., the nor' wester 

 was overhead, and a few drops of rain began to fall. In these two cur- 

 rents of air, a south wind blowing hard along the surface, and a high 

 north-west current from the north-west, we have the necessary ele- 

 ments for the birth of a rotatory storm. About this time, Mr. Kelly, the 

 Resident Medical Officer of the Mitford Hospital, was visiting a friend 

 at the Railway lines to the north of the town, Mr. Kelly has spent most 

 of his service in the North West Provinces, and is well acquainted with 

 the appearances of dust storms, and he called the attention of his friend 

 to a dull brown patch low over the mangoe trees to the north, contras- 

 ting with the clear slate-blue background of the approaching nor'- 

 wester. This brown patch was travelling rapidly from west to east. 

 He pointed out that this patch exactly resembled a distant dust storm. 

 When it got due north of his point of observation, it seemed to become 

 stationary or rather to be approaching Dacca. From his experience of 

 dust storms he knew it was time to get home. When he reached the 

 Mitford Hospital ten minutes afterwards, he looked for the brown patch, 

 and saw it now to his north-west, i. e., on its way from its former posi- 

 tion on the north of the town to the west end of Dacca. About ten 

 minutes afterwards he heard the sound of the tornado on its track from 

 the west of the Lalbagh, and along the opposite bank of the river, and a. 

 large tree in the Mitford Hospital compound was blown down. 



Here we have the evidence of an intelligent and trustworthy ob- 



