206 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



siderable extent of country, it finally disappeared, leaving 

 the ground deeply furrowed, and the air strongly impreg- 

 nated with a sulphureous odour. 



The same effect that is produced by two contending 

 currents of air takes place in another element, and gulfs or 

 whirlpools are no other than the eddies of the water formed 

 by the action of two or more opposite currents. The 

 greatest known gulf is that of the Norway sea, called 

 Maalstroem, or Moskostroem, which is affirmed to be up- 

 wards of twenty leagues in circuit. It absorbs for six 

 hours all that is near it, water, ships, &e. and afterwards 

 returns them in the same space of time as it drew them in. 



A Waterspout is no other than a whirlwind at sea. 

 The vacuum which is caused by the meeting currents 

 causes the water to rise up in the form of a cylinder, or 

 rather of an inverted cone. In the travels of M. Thevenot 

 there is a very minute and circumstantial account of the 

 formation of a waterspout. 



"The first," says this celebrated voyager, "which ap- 

 peared to me was on the northern coast, between us and 

 the island Quesomo, at a gun shot from the ship; the head 

 of the ship was then to the northeast: we directly per- 

 ceived water which boiled on the surface of the sea about a 

 foot high; it was whitish, and appeared above that height 

 like a thick smoke, so that it properly resembled some 

 burning straw, which only smoked; it made a noise like 

 that of a torrent which runs with much rapidity in a deep 

 valley: but this noise was mixed with a clearer, similar to 

 the strong hissing of serpents or vipers; a little while after- 

 wards we perceived something like a dark canal, which 

 bore a strong: resemblance to a smoke which ascends to- 

 wards the clouds, turning round with great velocity: this 

 appeared about the thickness of my finger, and the same 

 noise still continued; the duration of this spout was no 

 longer than about half a quarter of an hour: this over, we 

 perceived another one the south side of us, which began in 

 the same manner as the preceding: and almost as soon, a 

 similar one made its appearance on the west side; and 

 directly after a third by the side of the second; the farthest 

 of the three might be about a musket shot distance from 

 us: they all three appeared like burning heaps of straw, a 

 foot and a half or two feet high. We afterwards saw as 

 many canals, which descended from the clouds on those 

 places where the water was raised up, and each of them 

 was as broad at the end fastened to the cloud, as the broad 

 end of a trumpet, and resembled the human breast or that 

 of an animal, drawn perpendicularly down by a heavy 

 weight; these canals appeared of a darkish white, and were 

 not straight, but crooked in some places; they even were 

 not perpendicular; but on the contrary, from the clouds 

 where they were joined to the parts which drev\' in the 



water, they were very much bent; and what is more par- 

 ticular is, that having been driven by the wind, this canal 

 followed it without breaking or quitting the place where it 

 drew in the water, and passing behind the first canal, they 

 were sometimes crossed like a St. Andrew's Cross. At 

 the beginning they were all three about the thickness of 

 my finger, but afterwards the first of the three increased 

 considerably: but the last which was formed scarcely re- 

 mained longer than that which we saw on the north side. 

 The second on the south side remained about a quarter of 

 an hour, but the first on that side remained a little longer, 

 and this it was which terrified us the most. At first its 

 canal was as thick as my finger, afterwards as thick as my 

 arm, then as mj' leg, and at last as the trunk of a large tree, 

 which a man might compass with his arms. We distinctly 

 perceived water through this transparent body, which 

 ascended in a serpentine manner. Sometimes it diminish- 

 ed a little in size, sometimes at top and sometimes at bot- 

 tom; and then it resembled exactly a soft tube, with some 

 fluid matter pressed with the fingers, either upwards to 

 make this liquor descend, or at bottom, to cause it to ascend. 

 After this it diminished so much that it was thinner than 

 my arm; afterwards it returned as thick as my thigh, and 

 then again became very thin; at last, I saw that the water 

 elevated on the surface of the sea began to lower, and the 

 end of the canal which touched it divided and grew nar- 

 rower, when a variation of the light removed it from our 

 view." TVright's Buffon. 



RAIL. 



E^LLUS C^ROLINUS. 



[Plate XVIIL] 



491, No. 409. — 

 144.— Ze Ral de 



Soree, Catesb. i. 70. — Jirct. Zool. p. 

 Little Jimcricun Water Hen, Edw. 

 Virginie, Buff. viii. 165. — Rallits Carolinu.i, Lin. 

 Syst. p. 153, No. 5, ed. 10. — Gallinida Carolina, 

 Lath. Ind. Orn.p. 771, No. 17. — J. Doughtf's Col- 

 lection. 



Of all our land or water fowl, perhaps none afford the 

 sportsman more agreeable amusement, or a more delicious 

 repast, than the little bird now before us. This amusement 

 is indeed temporary, lasting only two or three hours in the 

 day, for four or five weeks in each year; but as it occurs in 

 the most agreeable and temperate of our seasons, is attend- 

 ed with little or no fatigue to the gunner, and is frequenth' 

 successful, it attracts numerous followers, and is pursued, in 



