Cyclones. 335 



less terrible than, the rest. The typhoon which happened at 

 Hong Kong in July of the present year is one among many 

 instances of their severity. 



A few examples of the force of the wind in cyclones will 

 serve as illustrations to the general theory of the mode of 

 action and origin of these revolving storms. 



Three hurricanes followed each other in succession over the 

 islands of the West Indies in a single month, the month of 

 October, in the year 1780. The first of these, on the 3rd of 

 October, destroyed the town of Savanna La Mar, in Jamaica, 

 by an inundation of the sea ; the second, and by far the 

 greatest of the three, on the night of the lOth-llth, swept over 

 the Island of Barbadoes ; the third disabled the Sj)anish fleet 

 under Solano, in the Gulf of Mexico, on the 20th of the same 

 month and year. The greatest of the three, known as the 

 " Great Hurricane," passed over Barbadoes on the night of 

 the lOth-llth of October, with a violence universally compared 

 to that of an earthquake-shock. The strongest buildings on 

 the island were rent to their foundations ; and even the arsenals 

 were destroyed. The spray of the sea, raised twenty-five feet 

 above its ordinary level, was driven by the wind with so much 

 force, as to lift a twelve-pounder gun with its carriage, more 

 than a hundred yards from their places on the bastions. In 

 the midst of this confusion, 3000 persons lost their fives. 



On the 10th of August, 1831, another great hurricane 

 visited Barbadoes, in which the sea at St. Vincent rose twelve 

 feet above its ordinary level. At the north point of Barbadoes, 

 the sea continually broke over the cliff, a height of more than 

 seventy feet ; and a salt rain fell upon the whole island, by 

 which the waters were rendered unpalatable, and fishes in the 

 ponds were killed. This is also related to have occurred at 

 Mauritius, in the hurricane of February and March, 1818 ; and 

 again, in a typhoon at Manilla, on the 23rd of October, 1831, 

 the " paddy-fields" of standing rice were turned white by the 

 salt water, which the wind conveyed to them in showers. 

 This effect of the transporting power of the wind was noticed 

 by Eobert Stephenson in the construction of the Barra light- 

 house. The water was turned brackish by a storm on the 

 16th of April, 1838, at a height of 600 feet above the level of 

 the sea. Instances of a rain of salt-water are recorded in the 

 Philosophical Transactions in the accounts of the " Great 

 Storm" of the 26th of November, 1703. 



The curious circumstance that more rain is collected at the 

 surface of the ground than at a height of only a few feet above 

 it, is perhaps explicable on this principle ; for the spray of 

 falling rain is carried upwards by the wind, and becoming 

 attached to the falling drops, increases their size, and is 



