454 ATMOSPHERICAL PHENOMENA. 
during this extensive passage, have occasioned (Jif, 
dinaiy a coagulation and congelation of the v 
as to increase the hail-stones to so vast a bulk lO , 
space as that of their fall. 
On the 4th of May, 1767 j ®t Hitchin, in Hef' 
ifV 
after a violent thunder-storm, a black cloud sun 
..V- _ ,1 . I . . , 1 V • - finfl 1*^ .W. 
in the south-west, about two o’clock in tke jlf ^ 
the wind tlien blowing strongly in the east, and ' ^ K 
instantly followed by a shower of hail, several o (jiiPji 
stones which fell measuring from seven or eight ^jy 
or fourteen inches in diameter. The 
storm fell near Offley, where a young man 
and one of his eyes beaten out of his head, his j,, ly 
Another pef® 
in every part covered with bruizes, 
to Offley, escaped with his life, but was 
J ( 
At a nobleman’s seat in tha vicinity, seven 
of glass were broken, and great damage 0 \ 
aT — a ■ aa a n. 1 ta a. a a aa . aa n— la aaa a ai aa a, ^ I ^ 1 a .a 1 .a ,aa,a... la aa 1 I .a C f I ^ITC- ^ • 
tlie neighbouring houses, 
immense quantities, that they tore up 
and other trees. 
The large hail-ston<^^'^|j|i<lj ^ 
the 
• 2 dp";/ 
split many Large oaks and other trees, 
tensive fields of r)'e, and destroying several J 
of wheat, barley, &c. Their figures were ” 
being oval, others round, others pointed, and 
ila 
HURRICANES. 
The ruin and desolation accompany „ 
scarcely be described. Like fire, its msistle.s^^ 
ring a 
rcsisttes |,r£y 
yn lya yiuy^yy., j- iS g^ U 
by an awful stillness of the elements, and a siU',‘. ^ 
consumes every thing in its track. It is gei 
stilli 
mistiness in tlie 
... atmosphere, which make i ^„itu‘*'!^i/ 
red, and the stars of more than an ordinary *V^^|iiy 
a dreadful reverse succeeding, the sky is su j 
and wild; the sea rises at once from a pm^h'-’. 
mountains ; the wind rages atid roars 
cannon ; the rain descends in a deluge ; 
like 
tllC 
adh"^;^ 
ua Hi a 
envelopes the earth with darkness ; and the s 
appear rent with lightning and thunder. ' to 
t’lese occasions, often does,, and always 
while terror and consternation distract all na ^ 
catried from the woods into the ocean; ^ 
element is the sea, fly for refuge on land. 
