By the Rev. A. 0. Smith. 



367 



impossible to conjecture, but it seems to be universally allowed 

 that from two to three minutes was the time occupied in passing 

 over any given spot; and during these few moments, it swept a 

 clear and most perceptible path in its onward progress, tearing up 

 by the roots and snapping short off the huge trunks of some of the 

 largest elms and other trees, unroofing houses, stacks, and cottages, 

 and hurling men and cattle to the ground, and dashing them 

 furiously to and fro, and rolling them over and over in its rough 

 embrace. 



Several persons saw it from a short distance, coming up over 

 the open down, but being on one side of its course, they were 

 entirely out of it, and felt none of its breath as it tore by. Some 

 of these witnesses describe it as a thick volume of smoke, or a 

 dense cloud of steam rushing through the air: but to those with- 

 in its line, so appalling was its appearance, and so terrific the 

 roar of its approach, that the stoutest heart felt unnerved, and the 

 steadiest head bewildered at so sudden, so unusual, and so fearful 

 a visitation. Most of the villagers sought refuge within their 

 houses, apprehending some unwonted catastrophe; while others 

 who could not gain shelter in time, had to cling with all their 

 might to posts or gates, and even so found great difficulty in with- 

 standing the fury of the gale. In an instant the storm was upon 

 them, ushered in by a most vivid flash of lightning and an instan- 

 taneous clap of thunder, and attended by abundant rain and hail- 

 stones of a large size. These, however, seem to have been 

 partial in their favours, covering the ground in some places, while 

 in others not one was to be seen. And so sudden and furious was 

 its onset, so loud and deafening its roar, so strange and unearthly 

 the darkness, (not unlike that attending the annular eclipse of the 



rate rate, and yet the wind resulting from the vacuum within the cloud may be 

 of any velocity it is possible to imagine ; and (as far as I can learn) our hurri- 

 cane seems to have passed along in the general direction of the wind blowing at 

 the time, which was very high : how high in this particular locality I have no 

 means of knowing, but I learn that at Oxford on the 29th it had an average 

 velocity of 22 J, and on the 30th (the day of our storm) 24| miles per hour ; 

 which is undoubtedly a very high wind : the direction on the two days was 

 from S.W. and W.S.W. 



