1.36 



STORMS. 



6 p.m. on October 25, 1855, took a N.W. by W. 

 path, burned during ten or eleven minutes, and 

 frightened the superstitious burghers into fits. 

 Water-spouts commonly appear during the month 

 of April, and in the direction of the mainland : 

 the people disperse them by firing guns. 



Erost and snow are of course unheard of at 

 Zanzibar, and hail, not uncommon in the inte- 

 rior, never (?) falls upon the island or the coast. 

 During the wet season generally, especially when 

 the heats are greatest, the hills of Terrafirma are 

 veiled with clouds, and sheet-lightning plays 

 over the horizon. The islanders assure the 

 stranger that storms of thunder and lightning 

 are rare, and that few accidents happen from the 

 electric fluid. M. Alfred May, for instance, de- 

 clares that thunder is heard only three or four 

 times a year. The same is said in West African 

 Yoruba, in parts of the Brazil, and even in 

 Northern Syria — Damascus, for instance. It 

 would be curious to inquire what produces this 

 uniform immunity under climatic conditions so 

 different. At Zanzibar, however, the phenome- 

 non is irregular as the seasons. I was told of 

 several deaths by the ' thunderbolt,' and in the 

 year 1857 the S.W. monsoon was ushered in 

 almost daily by a tempest. Lieutenant- Colonel 



