42 A Twentieth Memoir on the Law of Storms. [No. 8. 



could often see clouds passing at a distance from us, and the rain evidently falling 

 from their edges, there was lightning and thunder, but no rain at this station. At 

 length on the evening of the 26th April, we had a drizzling shower, which con- 

 tinued all night attended with occasional gusts of wind ; in the morning it blew 

 furiously from the North East, the rain falling nearly in a horizontal direction ; 

 the violence of the wind tore down trees by the roots, and unroofed many 

 bungalows and huts, at least such part of the bungalows as were thatched. 

 About afternoon the wind shifted to the South East, blowing with the same 

 violence, and doing the same injury. During the night it veered to the West 

 with the same force, sometimes increasing, and died away in the morning. 



From the Calcutta Englishman. 



Midnapore, April 29th.— "The station of Midnapore was visited on Saturday 

 last, by a terrific Cyclone. On Friday afternoon, (the 26th,) the clouds looked 

 heavy and lowering, and about 10 p, m. rain began to fall. It continued till 

 3 a. m., when it was accompanied by gusts of wind from N. E. The wind 

 increased in violence, and about 6 a.m. shifted to the East, from which quarter 

 it blew with unabated fury till 12 o'clock (noon), it then veered to the South, 

 its fury still continuing, and ultimately came round to S. W. at 3 p. m., at 

 which point it gradually subsided. 



" The station is a perfect wreck ; not a house, European or native, has escaped 

 injury. Some have been totally unroofed, the walls of others have been thrown 

 down, and the windows and doors blown in, hundreds of trees have been rooted 

 up, and those that remain standing have been stripped of their foliage, and 

 their branches broken and twisted into all kinds of fantastic shapes. In the 

 park no less than 140 of the oldest peepul and banian trees have been torn up 

 and prostrated. You cannot picture to yourself the scene of desolation that 

 surrounds us. It is, however, a matter of congratulation that no lives have 

 been lost. Had the Cyclone come upon us at night there is no saying what 

 fatality might have awaited us, and how many casualties we might have had 

 to record. We have received no tidings from the South, and await them with 

 some anxiety, as the wind blew strongest from that quarter ; it is to be feared 

 that the Hidgelee division has suffered severely, and that the sea has destroyed 

 the bunds. You are right, I think, in your inferences as to the track of the 

 Cyclone, its passage was from the South or S. W., and Midnapore was about 

 its centre." 



We shall be obliged to any friends who will kindly forward us their observa- 

 tions on the force, duration, and direction of this storm wherever it may have 



