1838.] Calcutta, on the 8th April, 427 



destruction on land, that such as were in their houses hastened out to 

 witness this wonderful phenomenon, and ere they could return to their 

 homes, which my informant tells me they were soon obliged to do, the 

 sudden darkness that overspread the place, the howling of the wind and 

 clouds of dust attending it, rendered it impossible for them to bear 

 testimony as to which of the two gained the victory : that from the 

 occurrence of the whirlwind, to the period it lasted, or left these parts, 

 it did not occupy twenty minutes, and was almost immediately followed 

 by sunshine, little or no rain, but a severe fall of hail, which probably 

 deprived some of life. The gomastah further informed me that after the 

 storm had subsided such as could do so, had their families conveyed to 

 the neighbouring villages, others abandoned the place altogether and 

 there were none to remove the dead and dying. Of the latter he remarked 

 there were scarcely any. I might as well notice here, that it is said, that 

 examining the bodies the following day they had the appearance of 

 being burnt by fire ; I could only find two of the wounded at Choivbaga?i 

 who were despatched to the hospital at Allipore. At the village termed 

 Mazare Ganw the whirlwind came on at about half-past one o'clock, 

 at Soorah, Anundpore, Balleaghatta, Chowhagan, and Sambandal, two 

 and three o'clock ; and the villages further east, Bykunthpoor and Coda- 

 lea, four o'clock, and though not lasting more than half an hour in 

 each, its effects have been truly distressing ; it hailed in the above 

 mentioned places, and in the two last named villages the hail was trian- 

 gular. I give this latter information as I derived it, but at Dum Dum the 

 stones were uncommonly large, one weighed three and a half pounds* ; 

 whether my informant was exaggerating I am not aware, but I saw a 

 large handi (capable of containing seven or eight seers) containing water 

 which he assured me was of the hailstone, the weight of which is given 

 above ; he said it might have weighed more, but was broken in its fall : the 

 fragments he did not collect. 



* We have been informed that one hailstone at Dum Dum would not go into 

 a finger-glass ; we picked up some at the mint nearly as large as walnuts. 

 The large size of these stones led us to suppose that they must have been of in- 

 tense cold on their issuing from the clouds, so as to continue condensing and 

 freezing the moisture of other clouds, and the air, in their passage downwards, 

 We collected a quantity immediately on their reaching the ground, but their 

 temperature was then exactly 32°. — Ed. 



3 H 



