1B4 
HAROLD’S DISCUSSIONS. 
A tornado is seldom over a quarter of a mile in 
width, sometimes not over twenty feet, and its length 
rarely exceeds twenty-five miles. At times the de¬ 
structive cone of the tornado touches the earth for a 
short distance and then is lifted up so that it does no 
damage, and again is let down, to carry everything 
before it. 
It is claimed that tornadoes form in the southern 
edge of a cyclone. As most of our storms in the 
United States are cyclones of greater or less extent, 
they afford frequent opportunity for tornadoes dur¬ 
ing the warm half of the year. 
Waterspouts may be said to be nothing more than 
tornadoes on the sea. The water, which is generally 
believed to be drawn up from the ocean, is really the 
cone of water formed by the condensation of the 
moisture in the upward-fiowing air. Sometimes the 
water seems to rise from the ocean, and it does 
doubtless heap up just beneath the waterspout; but 
the water in the funnel-shaped cloud is not salt, as it 
would be if it had been lifted up from the ocean; 
it is clear, fresh water. This has been proved by the 
testimony of seamen whose vessel-decks have been 
fiooded by these terrors of the sea. 
Hurricanes are the product of tropical seas. The 
word is Caribbean in origin, and it had a meaning 
akin to tornado, but is now often applied to any vio¬ 
lent, destructive wind. The hurricanes of the West 
Indies are the children of the trade-winds. They ap¬ 
proach as chilling storms from the northeast. As 
they near the equator they turn to the right, finally 
