FETCH : 
31 
Pechuel-Loesche (über Blitze und Blitzschläge, page 93) has 
recorded that in spite of careful search he was not able to find 
trees injured by lightning in the regions of the Loango Coast, 
though at various times he had observed the lightning fall on 
isolated giant trees so near at hand that he heard only a short, 
sharp, clap of thunder. 
The natives display no fear of lightning ; they take shelter 
under trees without hesitation if they are caught in the open by 
thunderstorms. The view that very few flashes reach the ground 
might, therefore, appear to be justifled. But I cannot agree with 
that opinion ; and I would venture the explanation that the 
enormous volume of rain water which saturates the porous soil, 
or, while running off, constitutes a mantle over the thick thatch 
of the huts probably, being a good conductor, affords protection 
to the latter at least. Pechuel-Loesche’s observations can no 
doubt be explained by the fact that the tropical rainstorms soon 
wet the bark, which is generally smooth, and so furnish a practical 
protection. 
In dealing with the Mediterranean region, Dr. Stahl cites 
Dr. Trabut as stating that in Algeria thunderstorms and 
injury by lightning are rare, but in the oases the date palm is 
frequently struck. In the case of one palm which had been 
struck a short time previously. Dr. Trabut found the crown 
dead and in course of decay, and a long spKt in the stem. The 
author accounts for this excessive injury to the date palm 
by the facts that it is taller than the surrounding vegetation, 
that in consequence of the structure of its crown and stem it is 
not readily wetted by the rain, and, not least, by its position 
in a damp situation in a dry region. 
It will be noted, no doubt with some astonishment by 
residents in the tropics, that the records which Dr. Stahl has 
been able to discover of injury by lightning to tropical trees 
in general and palms in particular are remarkably few. This 
is no doubt to be explained in great measure by the fact that 
the daily commonplaces of tropical life pass unrecorded, 
though it would appear to be correct that, comparatively 
speaking, the frequent thunderstorms of the tropics cause 
less injury than those of temperate climates. 
This latter view is fairly widely held. Von Danckelmann, 
writing in “ Nature,” December 11, 1884 (Vol. 31, page 127), 
stated : — 
It is a remarkable fact that in all the publications relating to 
Africa we so seldom come across accounts of injuries caused by 
