14 Mr Dunnes Description of the Whirlwind 
petus of the propelling power, that it would have carried up 
even small fish, or any other light body, in its way. It was quite 
perpendicular, and seemed at first to be thicker at the summit 
than below, resembling a trumpet. Its density was so great, 
that many persons thought it was the smoke of some fire on the 
sands, but the most compared it to the steam from a large brew- 
house or steam-engine. The gyrating motion resembled a screw 
or’the Cornu ammonis^ and with this exception, and a more bulging 
character near the clouds, many respectable witnesses have as- 
sured me it was very much like the drawing in VoL V. Plate I. 
Fig. 1. of the Edmhicrgh Philosophical Journal. I can get no 
precise idea with regard to its velocity, some persons believing it 
travelled with less speed than they could run, others thinking 
they could not have kept pace with it. By comparing the time 
of its duration with the ground it passed over, which must have 
been at least half a mile, we may arrive at some approximation to 
the truth ; and although I have been told by some it was not 
seen for more than three, and others for ten minutes, when I 
consider that all agree in thinking themselves able to have got 
out of its reach, I should be inclined to believe that its course 
would have been at about seven miles an hour. 
The noise was very peculiar, and brought many people to their 
windows to see v/hat was the matter. Some describe it as imita- 
ting the roaring of a great wind ; some a crackling noise like a 
house on fire ; a military gentleman informed me it resembled the 
explosion of a mine under water ; but the majority considered it 
like the rumbling of heavy carriages. Another variation from the 
account given of a former one in your Journal, is, that the water 
was certainly not agitated till touched by the column ; and al- 
though the foam was not less than 80 yards in diameter, and 
reached the ship’s topmast, about 70 or 80 feet in height, the 
sea at a very small distance was as tranquil as usual. The alti- 
tude of the column of wind varied ; and as, in the hurry of such 
a moment, no one would have an instrument to measure the 
angles with, considerable differences of opinion on this point pre- 
vail. There seemed to be a conformity of sentiment that clouds 
were never seen so low before as those from whence this meteor 
proceeded. There was no discharge of light either above or be- 
low, nor sound like that of a sudden and momentary explosion, 
