2G6 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
siderable extent of country, it finally disappeared, leaving 
the ground deeply furrowed, and the air strongly impreg- 
nated with a sulphureous odour. 
The same effect that is produced by two contending 
currents of air takes place in another element, and gulfs or 
whirlpools are no other than the eddies of the water formed 
by the action of two or more opposite currents. The 
greatest known gulf is that of the Norway sea, called 
Maalstroem, or Moskostroem, which is 1 ' affirmed to be up- 
wards of twenty leagues in circuit. It absorbs for six 
hours all that is near it, water, ships, &c. and afterwards 
returns them in the same space of time as it drew them in. 
A Waterspout is no other than a whirlwind at sea. 
The vacuum which is caused by the meeting currents 
causes the water to rise up in the form of a cylinder, or 
rather of an inverted cone. In the travels of M. Thevenot 
there is a very minute and circumstantial account of the 
formation of a waterspout. 
“The first,” says this celebrated voyager, “which ap- 
peared to me was on the northern coast, between us and 
the island Quesomo, at a gun shot from the ship; the head 
of the ship was then to the northeast: we directly per- 
ceived water which boiled on the surface of the sea about a 
foot high; it was whitish, and appeared above that height 
like a thick smoke, so that it properly resembled some 
burning straw, which only smoked ; it made a noise like 
that of a torrent which runs with much rapidity in a deep 
valley: but this noise was mixed with a clearer, similar to 
the strong hissing of serpents or vipers; a little while after- 
wards we perceived something like a dark canal, which 
bore a strong resemblance to a smoke which ascends to- 
wards the clouds, turning round with great velocity: this 
appeared about the thickness of my finger, and the same 
noise still continued; the duration of this spout was no 
longer than about half a quarter of an hour: this over, we 
perceived another one the south side of us, which began in 
the same manner as the preceding: and almost as soon, a 
similar one made its appearance on the west side; and 
directly after a third by the side of the second; the farthest 
of the three might be about a musket shot distance from 
us: they all three appeared like burning heaps of straw, a 
foot and a half or two feet high. We afterwards saw as 
many canals, which descended from the clouds on those 
places where the water was raised up, and each of them 
was as broad at the end fastened to the cloud, as the broad 
end of a trumpet, and resembled the human breast or that 
of an animal, drawn perpendicularly down by a heavy 
weight; these canals appeared of a darkish white, and were 
not straight, but crooked in some places; they even were 
not perpendicular; but on the contrary, from the clouds 
where they were joined to the parts which drew in the 
water, they were very much bent; and what is more par- 
ticular is, that having been driven by the wind, this canal 
followed it without breaking or quitting the place where it 
drew in the water, and passing behind the first canal, they 
were sometimes crossed like a St. Andrew’s Cross. At 
the beginning they were all three about the thickness of 
my finger, but afterwards the first of the three increased 
considerably: but the last which was formed scarcely re- 
mained longer than that which we saw on the north side. 
The second on the south side remained about a quarter of 
an hour, but the first on that side remained a little longer, 
and this it was which terrified us the most. At first its 
canal was as thick as my finger, afterwards as thick as my 
arm, then as my leg, and at last as the trunk of a large tree, 
which a man might compass with his arms. We distinctly 
perceived water through this transparent body, which 
ascended in a serpentine manner. Sometimes it diminish- 
ed a little in size, sometimes at top and sometimes at bot- 
tom; and then it resembled exactly a soft tube, with some 
fluid matter pressed with the fingers, either upwards to 
make this liquor descend, or at bottom, to cause it to ascend. 
After this it diminished so much that it was thinner than 
my arm; afterwards it returned as thick as my thigh, and 
then again became very thin; at last, I saw that the water 
elevated on the surface of the sea began to lower, and the 
end of the canal which touched it divided and grew nar- 
rower, when a variation of the light removed it from our 
view.” Wright’s Bujfon. 
RAIL. 
RALLUS CARO LINUS. 
[Plate XVIII.] 
Soree, Catesb. i. 70. — Arct. Zool. p. 491, No. 409.— 
Little American Water Hen, Edw. 144. — Le Ral de 
Virginie , Buff. viii. 165 . — Rallus Carolinus, Lin. 
Syst. p. 153, No. 5, ed. 10 . — Gallinula Carolina, 
Lath. Ind. Orn.p. 771, No. 17. — J. Doughty’s Col- 
lection. 
Of all our land or water fowl, perhaps none afford the 
sportsman more agreeable amusement, or a more delicious 
repast, than the little bird now before us. This amusement 
is indeed temporary, lasting only two or three hours in the 
day, for four or five weeks in each year; but as it occurs in 
the most agreeable and temperate of our seasons, is attend- 
ed with little or no fatigue to the gunner, and is frequently 
successful, it attracts numerous followers, and is pursued, in 
