388 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



hollow and filled with rapidly-ascending vapour, closely 

 resembling the passage of smoke up a chimney flue. After 

 an existence of some minutes the column began to lose 

 much of its density, particularly at the extremities, and 

 eventually the central portion of the column was alone 

 visible, suspended in mid-air, considerably enlarged in 

 diameter, and still revolving. Much gratified with what I 

 had seen, I was on the point of leaving, when a second 

 waterspout was observed to be forming in a portion of the 

 same cloud, not far distant from the preceding one. 



This at first appeared suspended from the lower edge 

 of the cloud in the form of a long pointed icicle, widened 

 at the base, which gradually extended and enlarged in a 

 downward direction, until it exhibited a grand column of 

 vapour, in every respect like the former, and revolving in 

 like manner. During the latter half of its existence it 

 assumed a graceful curve in lieu of its perpendicular 

 appearance, then gradually disappeared at the extremities, 

 leaving, as before, a whirling centre to disperse slowly in 

 the surrounding atmosphere. 



I was surprised to find so little resemblance to anything 

 like a volume of water in the appearance of these so-called 

 waterspout.s. Indeed, with the exception of the shower of 

 rain which fell from another part of the cloud, I saw 

 nothing to induce the belief that fresh water, in the fluid 

 state, was present during the phenomenon. On the con- 

 trary, the scene I had witnessed left an impression on my 

 mind that these waterspouts can be nothing more than 

 the dense vapour of a cloud whirled into the form of a 

 hollow tube by the force of some revolving squall of wind, 

 and thus filling the vacuum or centre of such revolving 

 atmosphere to the fulness of its height and depth, as it 

 sweeps over the surface of the earth. The downward 

 direction of the vapour or cloud, from its early pointed 



