186 
HAYDEN. 
canes, and not from the tracks of cyclones of every grade of 
intensity. The case may be compared to that where the 
movements of great icebergs south of Newfoundland give 
correct ideas regarding the sub-surface currents that drag 
them southward into and through the easterly surface cur¬ 
rent, which, however, would determine the track of any 
lighter and less deeply immersed object. 
The recent and very severe hurricane that was central off 
Hatteras September 8th, and that raged off the coast between 
Hatteras and Block Island for several days, is described 
briefly by a supplement issued with the October Pilot Chart, 
entitled “ The St. Thomas-Hatteras Hurricane of September 
3-12, 1889.” The ten synoptic charts of the Bay of North 
America contained thereon illustrate the general character¬ 
istics of the storm for each day, from the time it passed St. 
Thomas till it died away north of Hatteras. Extracts from 
St. Thomas and Antigua newspapers illustrate the severity 
of the storm amongst the Windward Islands, and a chart of 
telegraph lines and cables shows that it is practicable, with 
the facilities that already exist, to get very complete tele¬ 
graphic information regarding such storms, and to watch 
their progress from day to day as they approach our Atlantic 
and Gulf coasts. In the present case, indeed, brief tele¬ 
graphic reports were received by the United States Signal 
Office, but the importance of early, decided, and definite 
warnings of such a storm would seem to require that we 
should receive as full reports as reach Havana, where the 
dangers of a hurricane are so keenly appreciated that the 
daily papers publish columns of news about every one that 
is reported from the Windward Islands. These long clip¬ 
pings from Havana newspapers show exactly what was 
known in Havana about this particular storm, as compared 
with the few words that reached Washington. The almost 
unfailing accuracy with which a skilled observer in the 
tropics can note the presence and character of a storm while 
it is still distant is not appreciated at all by those who are 
accustomed to base their forecasts entirely upon the syn- 
