WHICH FELL IN ORKNEY. 189 



came through the glass of one of his windows, and struck the 

 floor violently : it was, to use his own phrase, " really like a 

 " goose-egg." In two or three minutes more, the wind in- 

 creased almost to a hurricane; and instead of hailstones of the 

 usual shape, " pieces of ice," of almost all forms, were preci- 

 pitated with the utmost violence. Not only was every pane 

 of glass in the windows of the house, fronting the south, speedi- 

 ly broken, but the cabbage-plants in the garden immediate- 

 ly adjoining, and which could be seen from the windows, 

 seemed as if suddenly cut over, and strewed about the 

 ground *. The " clattering noise" of the hail which fell in the 

 sea at this time, is described by Mr Caithness as quite terri- 

 fic ; and, having been induced by this strange noise to look 

 particularly in the direction of the sea, he adds, that not only 

 did the hail keep the water as it were boiling, and covered 

 with white foam, but he repeatedly saw the lightning striking 

 from the cloud into the sea, and the water, where it was 

 struck, " dashing up as high as masts of ships." The light- 

 ning was not forked or zig-zag, but rather in the form of balls 

 or masses of fire. The whiteness of the foam of the sea was 

 rendered more evident, and the brightness of the fire more in- 

 tense, by the contrast of the surrounding darkness. 



The farmer and his family had not recovered from the con- 

 sternation excited by such an extraordinary event, when the 

 wind and hail ceased, and the sky began to clear. When they 

 ventured to look abroad, the fields presented a scene of per- 

 fect desolation. In the " close" or farm-court, surrounded by 

 offices, the hailstones had accumulated, and lay a foot and a half 

 deep ! In the open fields, although they did not perhaps exceed 



the 



* These cabbages, it may be remarked, were of the large red Aberdeen sort, 

 well known to be the strongest and coarsest of the tribe. 



