that called Iwálá-Mukhé in the Punjaub, mentioned by Hügel;' to the "fire-springs" at Kiating-fou in China, described by Imbert,' and to other places in the same empire, where igneous gases are emitted; to a temple at Chittagong, in Bengal; to the "Pit of the Wind," in a salt-mine at Reine, in Tecklenberg; to that of the Pietra-mala in Bolognese Apennines, about twenty-four miles N.W. from Florence; and to that at Fredonia on Lake Erie, recently described by Lyell.' 401. Solano; Libéchio. The Solano or levanter of Gibraltar pilots, is a variety of the sirocco experienced in Spain, and blowing from the south-east. It is extremely hot, and loaded with impalpable dust. The Spaniard, referring to its physiological effects, quaintly says,-no rogar alguna gracia en tiempo de solano,-ask no favour during the solano. The Libéchio is a southern wind blowing in Italy, and producing effects like those of the sirocco. The Ponente is a west wind similar to the classic Favonian breezes, blowing in the Campagna di Roma. Trav. in Kashmir and Punjab,-Jervis, p. 44. * Annales de l'Assoc. de la Propagation de la Foi, 1829. Edin. Jour. of Sc. No. xv. p. 183. Trav. in Nor. Amer. Сс CHAPTER XVII. 402. The Whirlwind. 403. Typhoon. 404. Tornado. 405. Remarkable examples. 406. Theory of Espy. 407. Pamperos. 408. Hurricane. 409. Historical Notices. 410. Occurrences in present century. 411. Cuba hurricane: Awful hurricanes of 1846. 412. Hurricane in New South Wales. 413. Great storm of 1703. 414. Theory of the hurricane. 415. Wind-storm of America. 416. Squall. 417. Bize, Bora, Mistral, Tramontana. 418. Tourmente, Guxen. 419. Variable Winds of Temperate Regions. 420. Law of Changes. 421. Circular theory of Storms. 422. Temperature of Erratic Winds. 423. Malign influence. "Sometimes when all seems peace, Wakes the grim whirlwind, and, with rude embrace, Sweeps nations to their grave, or in the deep Whelms the proud wooden world: full many a youth On some sad desert shore!" BISHOP PORTEUS. 402. The Whirlwind is a rapid, impetuous wind, moving spirally, often with destructive violence, uprooting trees and overturning buildings. Its breadth is usually confined, so that its ravages are limited and local. It appears to have an electric origin, the proximate cause being an upward atmospheric current. "In the afternoon," says the late Mr Bennet,1 "while we were at Kitoor, a tree standing near the palace of the Rajah, was suddenly assailed by the pisach, as the Hindoos call it that is the devil; and truly by an invisible spirit it seemed agitated in the most violent manner, while all the air was calm around. It in fact was a very narrow local whirl 1 Jour. Voy. and Trav. vol. ii. P. 362. wind, which rent the foliage and raised the dust in a spiral column about the tree to a great elevation. In two minutes it was gone, and every branch and leaf remaining, became as still in the course of a few seconds as though nothing had happened to disturb them. Such gusts are not uncommon at this season (April), and are frequently confined in their operations to a circle of a few yards' diameter. Severe thunderstorms with heavy rains, came on about the corresponding hours of the two following afternoons." Bruce' mentions a whirlwind which he experienced in a plain about two miles from the village of Nuba, near Basboch on the Nile. It entirely demolished one-half of a hut, scattering the fragments, but left uninjured the other portion of the dwelling; it lifted up a camel, which it threw to a distance, the unfortunate animal sustaining fracture of several ribs; the traveller and two servants were raised and cast down upon their faces, and covered with the red mud of the place, but they were not severely hurt. Morier describes the whirlwind of Persia. A whirlwind of dreadful fury preceded the volcanic eruption of Tomboro, in Sumbawa, described by Sir Stamford Raffles. It swept man and beast into its vortex-prostrated houses, uprooted mighty trees, and strewed them upon the ocean. Upon the 26th of April 1818, a violent whirlwind visited the neighbourhood of London, which has been described by Colonel Beaufoy.* On the 25th October 1820, a whirlwind was experienced in Silesia, where, upon a meadow twenty-seven pieces of linen were being bleached. The doors of a large building were broken down, a heavy cart was completely overturned, the linen was carried sixteen yards above the house, and dropped in a ditch 150 paces off; the weight of the cloth thus borne up was about 650 lbs. avoird., and this was independent of a post measuring six and a half feet long, about one wide, and three inches thick, which was entangled in the skein. One was observed at Dumfries on the 11th May 1847: a dress then lying in a garden at Corbelly Square, was whirled up till 2 Sec. Jour. p. 202. Col. Beaufoy,--Ann. of Phil. xi. 442. 'Trav. vol. iv. p. 422; Park, Trav. p. 135. 3 Hist. of Java, i. 28. nearly out of sight, and carried to a field half a mile from where it lay. The following instances indicate the close connexion existing between the whirlwind and waterspout, already referred to. One of them occurred on the 24th June 1823, at Scarborough. It was preceded by boisterous weather of a fortnight's duration, and a low atmospheric temperature. Upon the day mentioned, an appalling thunder-clap was the herald of the whirlwind-now there was a brief repose, and anon the elements were troubled: a dense cloud descending from the S. W. and a lower one moving from the N.E. were brought in contact, apparently by electric attraction. These clouds beat upon each other and rebounded-again they approached, and blended in one dense column; the surrounding clouds rushed whirling to the same centre. This column descended to the earth, and moved from the W. N. W., tearing up trees in its path; it changed its course, and advanced to the east, scattering the sand to a great height, and overturning the bathing machines upon the shore. It passed between the piers, making havoc with the shipping, and raising spray to the height of a ship's top-mast; it crossed the harbour, and rising over the battery in rapid volutions, ascended higher and disappeared. From the great quantity of water raised, and the violent agitation of the waves below the column, many deemed this phenomenon a waterspout: it left no trace of water on the land, nor did it seem more than a dense mass of vapour, violently agitated, and revolving on an axis; there was a continuous roaring sound, but no discharge of lightning. Another and more remarkable storm of a similar kind, occurred on the 6th July same year, at Assonval, six leagues from Boulogne. At 1.5 P. M. the plain of Assonval was darkened by clouds which were rapidly collecting from all points. of the compass, and when they had united formed one dense mass wide as the eye could survey: now there descended a dense vapour of a bluish colour, like a reversed cone, which turned rapidly round. This mass of singular aspect separated 1 Ed. Phil. Jour. vol. ix. p. 398; vol. x. p. 11. Ib. vol. xi. p. 405; Bulletin Universel. 1824. from the cloud, and, like a ball, touched the earth and rebounded-there issued from its centre occasional balls of fire, attended by a noise like the rattling of a heavy carriage along a pavement. The wind was impetuous; nothing withstood its fury-the ground was torn up, houses were overturned, stately trees were uprooted and laid in different directions, others were lifted up and carried to a distance, branches were swept into the vortex, and again cast out: thus it raged over several leagues. At Lambre it divided into two-one was dissipated, and the other advanced to Lillers, three leagues further, where it destroyed nearly two hundred trees, and then disappeared. At 3 P.M. all was calm, the thunder was past, and the night was beautiful. Upon the 18th July 1828, between 2 and 3 P.M., a storm was observed to gather, southward of Boston; the atmosphere had been sultry, and now it thundered. Then a small black cloud was observed to descend suddenly, in the shape of a column, and as rapidly a similar cloud appeared to rise from the earth-the two joined and formed a vast black column between the ground and the clouds. This columnar body advanced rapidly from the south to the north-east with a loud rushing noise. At Wyberton Fen it carried up, and to a distance, some manure which two labourers had been spreading on a field-levelled a field of wheat and in its course drew up a considerable quantity of water which it again deposited. Entering a farm-yard, it threw down a fence and lifted the sheep-hurdles-uncovered a waggon-shed-demolished the end of the building, and injured an adjoining barn. It then carried a heavy cart rapidly to a distance of 120 feet, and a ponderous four-horse roller nearly twenty yards. It passed to another farm, uprooting a tree and destroying some poultry. It now passed over the river Witham, being occasionally elevated and sometimes depressed in its course: it then went towards an adjoining wood, where it divided into two columns, which twisted themselves spirally-one in an ascending, the other in a descending direction-accompanied by a loud noise, flashes of lightning and sulphureous smell, and followed by torrents of rain. In |