634 Researches on the Gale and Hurricane ^August, 



jam, to Point Palmiras, the Hurricane was probably felt. Its limit to 

 the North we well know to have been between Point Palmiras and 

 Balasore, but I could obtain no intelligence from Ganjam to fix a limit 

 to the South. 



We 'should also find that, as the current of air proceeds up the valley 

 i)i the Ganges to the North Westward, it should give rise to an Easterly 

 Gale, which has also in this instance occurred, as will be seen by 

 the following extracts, the first being from a very able and interesting 

 letter from Mr. Ravenshaw, of the Civil Service, dated Chuprah in 

 Behar, lat. 25° 46' N. long. 84° 46' E. 



Chuprah, July l^th, 1839. 

 Dear Sir, — Having observed in the Newspapers that you are 

 desirous of obtaining information connected with the Gale which 

 occurred in the Bay of Bengal from the 3rd to the 5th June inclusive, 

 I have the pleasure to contribute my mite to the stock of facts which 

 you are engaged in collecting. The enclosed extract from my Register 

 will shew the height of the Bar. and Ther. at 10^ a. m. during the 

 Gale, and for some days succeeding it. I regret that my official duties 

 prevented me from taking observations at 4^ p. m. ; but I hope the 

 small amount of information afforded will not be without use, in 

 shewing the direction and duration of the Gale of this district, inland 

 from the Bay of Bengal. It will be remarked, that the Gale did not 

 commence here until the 4th instead of the 3rd June, and that it 

 terminated on the 7th instead of the 5th. The Bar. kept falling 

 during the continuance of the Gale, and strange to say did not reach its 

 minimum until the day after the violence of the Gale had ceased, i. e. 

 the 8th. The direction of the Gale was nearly due East, but on the 

 8th the wind shifted to the SW. and West, and on the 9th blew as 

 furiously from the latter quarter as it had previously done from the 

 East ; towards evening, however, it shifted to the NE. On the 

 10th it changed to SE., on the I lth to SW. ; and the following day 

 to the West. On the 14th and 15th it again veered to the NE. and 

 EbN. until on the 16th it resumed its old position of East, which is 

 the usual direction from which it blows at this season of the year. 

 From the above it would appear that the wind, after the violence of 

 the Gale had subsided, acquired a rotatory motion and turned twice 

 round the compass in a Southerly direction before it recovered its 

 equilibrium. By letters received at the time from Mootebarry, 60 miles 

 North of Chuprah, and from Gyah, about 90 miles South of this 

 station, I learnt that the Gale occurred with equal violence at those 

 places. The breadth of the column of air put in motion was therefore 

 at least 150 miles, and probably much greater. It would be interest- 

 ing to ascertain the exact limits of this Gale inland as well as at sea, 

 which object might be effected by your addressing a circular letter to 

 the residents at each of the principal stations in the Western Provinces 

 e. g. Allahabad, Cawnpore, Agra, Delhi and Saharunpore. In- 





