the West India Islands, and generally all hot countries, would scarcely be habitable for the white races of men. HURRICANES. -The most dangerous winds to the navigator are those which occur in sudden gusts, or squalls, and for the approach of which the sharpest outlook is required. When the squall is in the form of a violent tempest, accompanied by rain, lightning, and thunder, it receives the name of a hurricane. Hurricanes occur most frequently and with the greatest violence in tropical climates, because, in consequence of the very great heat which there prevails, the rarefaction of the air, and also the condensation of the va por it contains into rain-drops, takes place more suddenly and completely than in more temperatc regions. By this means the electricity of the atmosphere, that subtle fluid which seems to pervade all bodies, and which universally seeks its own equilibrium, disturbed, and no longer maintains an equal distribution through the aerial vapor. It accumulates in vast quantities in one mass of vapor or cloud, while in another it is deficient; and, consequently, to regain its equilibrium, it flashes in the form of lightning from the surcharged cloud to the cloud that is undercharged, or to the earth itself. Hence, hurricanes are always attend. ed with electrical manifestations, which add greatly to the tragical horrors of the spectacle they exhibit.

is

In describing the tremendous hurricane which took place in the West Indies in 1772, a writer observes ; "I must still mention how dreadful every thing looked in this horrible and dark night, there being so many fiery meteors in the air, which I and others who were in the same situation were spectators of. Towards

the east he face of the heavens presented to our vew a number of fiery rods, electrical brushes, — which were through the whole night shooting and darting in all directions; likewise fiery balls, which flew up and down, here and there, and burst into a number of small pieces, which like torches of flaming straw, came very near the road where we lay; yet, notwithstanding all these pnenomena, thunder and lightning were abundantly great."

Hurricanes commence in various ways: sometimes from a single and small cloud, which suddenly expands, overspreading, as with a dense shroud, the whole heavens; and sometimes from a slowly gathering mass of clouds which appear to be irradiated with electric fire. When the enterprising navigator, Columbus, was about to depart from Isabella Island, while his vessels were still in the harbour, one of these dreadful hurricanes arose. "About mid-day," says Washington Irving, "a furious wind sprang up from the east, driving before it dense volumes of cloud and vapor. Encountering another tempest from the west, it appeared as if a violent conflict ensued. The clouds were rent by incessant flashes, or rather streams, of lightning. At one time they were piled up high in the sky, at another they descended to the earth, filling the air with a baleful darkness more impenetrable than the obscurity of midnight. Wherever the hurricane passed, whole tracts of forests were shivered and stripped of their leaves and branches, and those of gigantic size, which resisted the blast, were torn up by the roots, and hurled to a great distance. Groves were torn from the mountain precipices, and vast

many thought that Some fled to cav

masses of earth and rock precipitated into the valleys with terrific noise, choking the course of the rivers. The fearful sounds in the air and on the earth, — the pealing thunder, — the vivid lightning, - the howling of the wind, the crash of falling trees and rocks, filled every one with affright, and the end of the world was at hand. erns for safety, for their frail houses were blown down, and the air was filled with the trunks and branches of trees, and even with fragments of rocks, carried along by the fury of the tempest. When the hurricane reached the harbour, it whirled the ships round as they lay at anchor, snapped their cables, and sunk three of them to the bottom, with all who were on board. Others were driven about, dashed against each other, and tossed, mere wrecks, upon the shore by the swelling surges of the sea, which in some places rolled for three or four miles upon the land. The tempest lasted for three hours. When it had passed away, and the sun again appeared, the Indians regarded each other with mute. dismay. Never, in their memory, nor in their traditions, had their island been visited by such a tremendous storm. They believed that the Deity had sent this fearful ruin to punish the cruelties and crimes of the white men, and declared that this people had moved the very air, the water, and the earth, to disturb their tranquil life, and to desolate their island."

The West Indies, the Isle of France, and the empires of Siam and China, are the countries which are most subjected to the ravages of hurricanes. In the West Indies they most frequently occur in the month of August and the Indians, from their experience, origi

nally taught our planters the signs by which their approach may be prognosticated. The hurricane occurs either in the first quarter or at the full change of the moon. If it come on at the full, then at the preceding change the sky looks troubled, and the sun more red than usual; besides which, there is a dead calm below, and the mountain tops are free from those mists which usually overhang them. In the caverns of the earth, and in wells, a hollow, rumbling noise, like a rushing wind, is heard, and animals are observed to tremble and be much disturbed. Many animals, indeed, appear to be very sensible of any change in the electrical state of the atmosphere, and indicate their uneasiness by moaning and great restlessness. At night the stars seem larger than usual, and are frequently surrounded with halos. It is said, also, that the sea emits a strong smell, and rises into vast waves, without any wind being perceived. When the wind rises, it shifts from its common easterly direction to the west, whence, with occasional intermissions, it blows irregu larly and violently. The moon, likewise, is frequently surrounded by a halo, and many luminous meteors appear in the heavens. Notwithstanding that by observation we may thus predicate the approach of hurricanes, it does not appear that we are at present able to avert them by any contrivance of art. The careful and skilful mariner, as his only safeguard, trusts to the trimming of his vessel to meet the expected tempest.

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CALMS AND BREEZES. "After a storm comes a calm," is an old proverb The fury of the tempest expends itself, and in all likelihood there shortly after ensues a state of tranquillity, though several days may

elapse before the "swell," or heaving agitation of the
sea, subsides.
When both the atmosphere and the
waters are tranquil, the surface of the ocean is beauti-
fully calm, and almost as smooth as the glassy surface
of a lake. But a perfect or dead calm, if of any con-
tinuance, is almost as disagreeable to the navigator as a
driving tempest. The ship makes no progress in its
course; its sails are useless; and there are no means of
removing from the dull and distressing scene.
condition of things is well described by the poet.

"Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,
"T was sad as sad could be,
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!

“All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody sun at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand
No bigger than the moon.

"Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

"Water water everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water everywhere,

But not a drop to drink."

This

Fortunately, dead calms are not generally of that continuance which leads to any serious result. A gentle breeze begins to steal upon the face of the deep, and the hitherto unruffled surface of the waters shows a slight, tremulous ruffling, technically called the crow's foot. Sailors have a superstitious belief, that whistling