4 
THE ESSEX NATURALIST. 
Our lake is, i believe, by far the largest sheet of inland fresh 
water in the county of Essex, extending to forty-one acres. 
The next largest is, probably, the lake in Debden Park, 
which is less than half as large. 
The whirlwind crossed the lake diagonally at a part at which 
it is comparatively narrow—not more than about 250 yards wide. 
At the point at which it first reached the lake, it broke a willow 
tree. Here the wind-rush must have been very narrow ; for, 
although the water’s edge is here lined by a number of alders, 
growing close together, only the one nearest to the willow shows 
any trace of injury. 
The storm, as it crossed the lake, picked up an enormous 
quantity of water, which appeared like a huge column of spray 
in a state of violent agitation, ascending to an immense height. 
The suspended water was then carried off by the whirlwind, 
still in violent motion. Some persons who saw it and were 
not aware of its nature, formed the opinion that an aeroplane 
had been struck by lightning and was going off in a cloud of 
steam and smoke ! As I have not heard that the water forming 
this column was discharged in bulk anywhere in the neighbour¬ 
hood, I assume that it was dissipated gradually, though it 
might have fallen and been mistaken for heavy rain. 
As the storm reached the further (north-east) shore of the 
lake, it passed over a bed of reeds, and the track it left therein 
affords an indication of its narrowness. This track, as viewed 
immediately aftenvards, was no more than about 50 feet wide. 
Without doubt, however, the storm was really wider than 
this ; for it must be remembered that reeds, not being rigid, 
will bend before a storm and afterwards recover their original 
positions to a large extent. It is difficult, therefore, to tell 
how much wider the storm may have been than the obvious 
track it left. 
On reaching the north-east shore, the storm struck, almost 
at once, a Scots hr (off which it broke a branch and several 
smaller pieces), as well as a large elm, having a stem 16ft. in 
circumference, which was broken off 12ft. from the ground. 
The storm, during the time it was crossing the lake or im¬ 
mediately afterwards, also produced two other curious effects. 
Thus, I observed that, for several minutes after the storm had 
passed, the fish in the lake were extremely agitated, and that 
