A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



205 



and a tornado came within reach, we were always delighted to 

 run through it." 



About a hundred paces from us, although there was not the 

 slightest breeze in the air, the sand rose rapidly, whirling round 

 and round. The rotation did not extend over a space of more 

 than a few feet. There was no apparent cause for it, and the 

 phenomenon ceased as unaccountably as it commenced. 



Lucien was of course dying with anxiety to run through 

 one of these tornadoes; but all that we saw were quite beyond 

 reach. 



" I think," said Sumichrast, addressing me, " when it is 

 thoroughly studied on the great plains of Mexico, we shall be 

 able to explain the cause of this phenomenon. In a general 

 point of view, these whirlwinds are nothing but water-spouts in 

 miniature." 



" A waterspout ! " asked Lucien ; " what is that ? " 

 " It is a natural phenomenon very like what you have just 

 witnessed ; but it is of a far more formidable character, for it 

 destroys everything it comes in contact with." 

 " Did you ever see one, papa ? " 



" Only once, at sea. The English steamer, on which I had 

 embarked, had just left the port of St Thomas in the West Indies, 

 and we were still coasting the island ; there was but a slight breeze 

 blowing, the sky was clear and the water rippled with miniature 

 waves, when, all of a sudden, a large tract of the sea ahead of us 

 was violently agitated. An enormous column of water rapidly 

 rose, andformed something like a dark and terrible-looking column. 

 After about a quarter of an hour, the fearful phenomenon, which 

 fortunately had kept on moving before us, remained stationary. 

 The volume, incessantly swelling, assumed a dark-blue shade, 

 whilst the column of water which appeared to feed a cloud was 

 of a gray colour. A dull roaring noise like that of distant 

 thunder suddenly occurred. The column broke in the middle, 

 and the greater portion of the liquid fell into the sea with a tre- 

 mendous shock ; but the upper portion sprinkled us with a 

 heavy shower. Half an hour afterwards we were sailing under 

 a cloudless sky and over an unruffled ocean. 



