12 



Hon. Ralph Abercromby. Relation between 



note a transference of the centre from the rear to the front of the 

 depression, and we cannot determine the course of the ship from the 

 published log. 



The " Bride," also on the west side of the cyclone, reports a very 

 similar sequence of weather, and no marked trough phenomena. 



The " Witch," which passed through the vortex, ran out of Madras 

 Roads on the 16th, with threatening weather, thunder, lightning, and 

 St. Elmo's fire on her mastheads. On the 17th she ran before the 

 N.W. wind, with a heavy gale and more thunder and lightning, right 

 into the vortex. Then she experienced a calm for 10 minutes, when 

 the wind flew to the S.W., with a sudden rise of 0*2 inch in the baro- 

 meter, and thunder, lightning, and rain for 12 hours afterwards. 

 Then the gale began to break, but the sun rose on the 18th with 

 a pale sickly sky, like gold, green, and blue all mixed together. 



What we have most to notice here is the amount of electrical 

 discharge all across the cyclone, the sudden rise of the barometer 

 as the first squall burst from the S.W. — exactly analogous to what we 

 so often see in England, — and the dirty sky in rear of the whole dis- 

 turbance. 



The " Oxfordshire " also passed through the vortex only a day after 

 the " Witch." The weather was similar in both cases ; but the mer- 

 cury began to rise on board the former at least an hour, and to the 

 amount of 0'2 inch, before the wind jumped to the S.W. The cyclone 

 was, however, filling up fast now, for while the lowest reading on the 

 18th was 28*95 inches, that on the 19th was only 29*36, a difference 

 of nearly 0*4 inch. 



The " Asia " passed on the east side of the cyclone. She experienced 

 rain and squalls on the 16th, and on the 17th also rain, squalls, and 

 lightning, till at 5 a.m. that day the wind veered suddenly from 

 N.N.E. or KE. to E.N.B., just at the lowest point of the barometer. 

 About four hours later the storm seemed to collapse rather suddenly. 

 Here we may note a sudden shift of wind at the passage of the 

 trough. 



There is only one observation on upper clouds. The Master Atten- 

 dant at Masulipatam reports that on the 19th, while the wind was 

 from the E., the scud had a more southerly motion. This is the normal 

 vertical succession in the northern hemisphere. 



The above exemplifies the May type of Indian cyclone ; the next 

 illustration will show the more violent October type. 



In figs. 5, 6, and 7 are given reductions of a cyclone which passed 

 up the Bay of Bengal from October 30 to November 1, 1876. These 

 and the extracts from ships' logs are entirely derived from another 

 exhaustive memoir by Mr. J. Eliot, entitled ' Report of the Vizaga- 

 patam and Backergunge Cyclones of October, 1876,' our diagrams 

 referring to the letter cyclone. 



