which fell in Orkney on the ^^th July 1818. 369 
reach it, he received a severe blow on the back of the neck, 
which stupified him, and produced a contusion, from the effects 
of which he had not recovered after the lapse of some months. 
Four men in a boat, at some distance from land, were exposed 
to a part of the shower, and had their hands much cut and 
bruised by the hailstones. 
It does not appear that the electric fluid had any share in 
killing the geese or other birds, at least no marks of discolora- 
tion were observable, and the palpable blows which they recei- 
ved were sufficient to account for their death. The cows being 
“ struck yeld^^'" as Caithness expresses it, seems a curious cir- 
cumstance ; it is ascribed by him to the dreadful fright they 
got. ^rhe wounds received by the cattle and horses were all 
evidently inflicted by the hailstones. It is proper to add, how- 
ever, that, in some places, Caithness observed the surface of the 
pasture-grass to be much discoloured and scorched-like $ and a 
good deal of the broken straw bf the grain-crops likewise ‘‘ co- 
loured white by the fire, as if it had been suddenly ripened.” 
Mr Taylor informs me, that when he first went abroad, imme- 
diately after the cloud had passed over, he was not only sen- 
sible of a sulphureous smell, but that it was so strong that he 
had speedily to return for a draught of water, in order to re- 
move the disagreeable sensation in the throat. He observed 
that the cattle afterwards avoided certain scorched parts of the 
pasture, which did not recover their verdure till repeated show- 
ers had refreshed them. 
Richard Caithness was not the only farmer whose crop and 
farm-stocking were injured. George Foulis, tenant of the farm 
of Holland, a possession of much greater extent and value, was ^ 
equally involved in the devastation. This farm, lying to the 
southward of Hunday, was of course to the windward ; and Mr 
Caithness told me, that the dismal yells” of Foulis’s wounded 
cattle, jon the high grounds between the two farms, and which 
reached him, notwithstanding the noise of the hail, produced a 
feeling of horror which he could not describe, — but that the 
cries seemed still to sound in his ears. The farm of Airie was 
likewise greatly damaged. 
Tlie meeting-house and manse of the Reverend Mr Taylor 
were in tho line of the cloud. In both, the south windows 
VOL. IV. NO. 8. APRIL 1821. 
A a 
