Be)7wrK-s upo?i Colonel jReid's attempt 



[A PR It 



southern hemisphere all revolved hi the ojposile direction, or N. E. S. VV, 

 ( contrary to the order of the in\';?is ). 



If we could now discover, that ihe tracks of storms in various parts of 

 he globe, followed fixed laws ; for instance— that the tracks of storms 

 on tlie Coroniandel Coast travelled from east to west always, — that the 

 Mauriiiiis storms pursued a south westerly course; and that the storms 

 peculiar to the West Indies originated from the east, and, recurving pa- 

 rallel to the coast of America, terminated in a westerly course couM 

 we be sure that these laws were alivays observed by storms, we should 

 be then in possession of facts, snfh. ient to enable us to sail in a direction 

 at the commencement of a storm, so as to avoid encountering its worst 

 effects. With regard to the rate of progression of storms, it appears tlia* 

 they are various; being, in some cases, as low as seven miles per hour, 

 whilst others there are, whose velocity has reached forty or fifty miles 

 per hour. 



In Col. Reid's work, the tracks of nine storms which have occurred in 

 the West Indies are laid down in a chart. In each of these the course of 

 the several storms has been accurately traced to be from W. by N. to W. 

 K. W., when encountered within the limits of 10—20 degrees of north 

 latitude ; after whi> h, gradually curving towards the north, in the 30th 

 degree of N. lat , its course becomes due north : from thence — apparent- 

 ly with perfect symmetry— the curves incline towards the east. 



The East Indian gales appear invariably to travel from the coast of 

 Arracan :* towards the west; the curves conforming gradually to the 

 slope of the shore, until in about the latitude of Madras, when their 

 course is due south; after which the curve bends again towards the west, 

 the violence of the storm seldom extending below Cuddalore, or Porlo 

 jNovo. 



The Mauritius and Madagascar storms appear likewise to travel 

 from the eastward at their commencement ; but the point of recurving, 

 ,rom want of sufficient observation, does not appear yet to have been 

 clearly made out. — We meet with the following description of the hurri- 

 cane at the Mauritius in 1818. 



*' La salle de spectacle est un tres-grand Edifice. Sa forme est celle 

 ** d'un T dcut la tete est un avant-corps considerable, puisque la partie 



posterieure, formant la queue du T, a seule 53 pieds de largeur sur 82 



de long. Sicet edifice eut et6 brise par la tempete onauraitpuattribue 



* The progress of the Madras storms has not yet been correctly ascertained :— the 

 stem of 1836 appeared to come from the eastward (Urec t, but the matter is very doubt- 

 ful. 



