[ 6 3 ° ] 
fufpended by the wind, and fiery places appear m 
them, which are neither lightening, ignis fatnus , nor 
phofphorus ; nor does the hurricane end, till the cloud 
burfts, and the lightening and thunder come on ; nor 
do the imprefiions made by the mixture and ftrife 
of all thefe elements blended together, ceafe till 
then. 
This epifode, far from leading me from my fub- 
jedt, which regards the caufe of currents and coun- 
ter-tides, is what naturally brings me to it. Thefe 
clouds, bearing downwards from on high upon the 
furface, form a kind of folid, which comprefies the 
water perpendicularly, and forces it againft the bot- 
tom. This impulfe, made againft the folid earth 
below, adis chiefly upon the Adores according to this 
motion ; then the fea is fubjedt to two imprefiions, 
one upon the lurface from the ftorm that agitates it, 
and the other from the weight and total prefiure of 
the cloud that lies over it : this caufes the waters to 
circulate at the bottom, giving them a particular 
motion along the coafts, which is not perceivable at 
a certain diftance from them. According to the di- 
redtion of the ftorm, whether eaft, weft, north, or 
fouth, of an ifland ; and according to whatever point 
of the ifland prefents to the impulfe of the wind, the 
waters feparate, their motion is now in two direc- 
tions, the current is obferved to go on one fide of the 
ifland to the eaft, on the other, to the north • 
and, on the contrary, the one to the weft, and the 
other to the fouth ; and that depends upon the pofi- 
tion of the ifland, according as it refifts the total 
motion of the waters at the bottom of the fea. Nor 
have thefe counter-tides any regular or determined 
courfe. 
I ob - 
