Cyclones. 333 



enter, and produce upon the Mexican coast the furious winds 

 called " Los Norte s" by the Spaniards. 



Finally, a third group of revolving storms, consisting, like 

 the last, of straight-line tracks, takes its rise in the centre of the 

 American Continent, and crossing the great American Lakes to 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, spreads itself eastwards over the 

 North Atlantic Ocean. These last are winter gales, occurring 

 in November, December, and January, while the hurricane- 

 season in the West Indies is from August to October. 



The word Cyclone (kvicXos, a circle), is chosen by Piddington 

 to represent under one term the hurricanes of the West and 

 Bast Indies, the Mauritius, and of the China Sea, and whatever 

 other curved winds of the same kind are found to occur in 

 different parts of the world. Beid and Redfield, Capper and 

 Horsburgh, in the West and East Indies respectively, besides 

 Piddington at Calcutta, and Dr. Thorn at the Mauritius, have 

 each investigated the law of storms in their own particular 

 quarters of the globe, and have been led to the same 

 conclusions. Among these names must ever be remembered 

 that of the late Rear- Admiral Fitzroy, who so ably investigated 

 the " Royal Charter " Storm, that " a better example for 

 illustrating the subject is not likely to occur soon." 



In all parts of the intertropical seas, cyclones take their 

 origin near the equator. They thence progress towards the 

 west, more or less rapidly, inclining towards the poles as they 

 proceed, until, arrived beyond the tropical regions, they recurve 

 in a wide, open sweep towards the east. A particular tract in 

 the Southern Indian Ocean, called by Piddington " the storm 

 tract," is the origin of the Mauritius cyclones ; extending be- 

 tween 75 Q and 105° east longitude from Greenwich, and from 

 5° to 25° south latitude. Here cyclones make their appearance 

 at the close of summer (from February until May), and, for an 

 unexplained reason, often remain nearly stationary for four or 

 five successive days. In general, their course is towards the 

 west, with a speed of three to ten miles an hour, inclining towards 

 the south as they advance. They sometimes attain the longitude 

 of Rodriguez, Mauritius, and Bourbon, or even pass, south- 

 wards, between Bourbon and Madagascar, before they recurve 

 towards the east. More commonly, they recurve in their 

 course before attaining the longitude of these islands, and 

 proceed towards the great Southern Ocean, in the direction of 

 the desolate rocks of St. Paul's and Amsterdam. 



Cyclones in the Eastern Indies occur about the changes of 

 the monsoons, generally in the months of May and October. 

 They make their appearance in the Bay of Bengal from 5° to 

 20° north latitude, and travel towards the west with a speed of 

 three to sixteen miles an hour ; meeting the east coast of the 



