NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 389 



form, until it reached the earth's surface, and exhibited a 

 column of uniform diameter, was palpable to the beholder; 

 so, also, was the ascent of returning vapour in the vacuum, 

 or interior of the column. 



The Bermudas are subject to shocks of earthquake, but 

 happily at rare intervals, and in a very slight degree. 

 Hurricanes of great violence occasionally pass over the 

 islands, and revolving gales very frequently occur during 

 the winter months. 



In December, 1875, a fearful tornado passed over that 

 part of Bermuda called " Tucker's Town," and in its course 

 lifted bodily a wooden house, of about thirty by twenty feet, 

 with its inmates (a Mr. Daniel Smith, a pilot employed by 

 the ships of war, his wife and four children) some ten feet 

 from its foundation, and after splintering it to pieces, the 

 fragments were blown into the water about a hundred yards 

 off. Mrs. Smith, who was found on the opposite shore 

 soon after the catastrophe clinging to a plank of the house, 

 died from her injuries in a few hours. The bodies of the 

 children were recovered next morning : three not far 

 from their late home, and the fourth on the opposite shore. 

 Smith, who prior to the sad event was sitting by an open 

 window, lost all consciousness for a time, and on his senses 

 returning, he found himself wedged between oleander trees, 

 some twenty feet from his late home, doubtless thrown 

 there from the window as the house was turned over by the 

 wind. The screams of his youngest child aroused him, but 

 everything was so enveloped in the darkness of the night 

 that it was impossible for him, for some time, to tell where 

 he was. Smith described the noise made by the approach- 

 ing storm to the roaring of a cataract, whilst a hundred 

 pieces of heavy ordnance were being discharged simultane- 

 ously. It was accompanied by flashes of vivid lightning 



