The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-05-23
S,.ns of the Weather.

Sr Humphrey BavE, in his " Sa,mohla,
*. 'aiuS several weather proverbs, signs,
aud sugers;itionS. Thus, when tue clouds
are lUrplo-tiEtci red in the vest, il portendS
fine weather because the arr. when dry, re-
tracts more red or heat making rays; and
a. dry air J. not perfectly transparent, they
are again reflected in the horizon. i cop
perry or yellow sunset generally fOretcllS
rain; but, a. an Indication Of wct weather
r.. roachiug, nothing = more certain than a
halo round thy moon. which : produced by
tie pr-cipila.,d wafer; aud the lareeT the
CIR l.. the nvarc~ the JutS, ant consequent
Is the more ready to fall. The o d provcrb ::
r.ia7, lp Tire sr-rr .ur O., .c .frrn--d'- varan-.
\ rainbow ~ as..s = IL -a'its-i'- d~' .saf.'
80 sit-r. 90, .Scr, BccaUs. = rainbow common
ly occurs when the clouds containing or de-
posting The rain are opposite To the sun !;
now, IN the evening the rainbow y III the
east, and in the morning in the west; and
"a. our heavy rsiuS In tn. climate are usually
brought by the westerly winds, a rainbow
~ the west indicates that the bad weather
j. on ,hc road, by the wind, to Us; whereas
the rainbow in the east prove. that the ram
in tines, clouds l. passing from Us When
swallows fy high fine weather j. 10 be cx-
pect i or continued but when they ily
lu.. or close 10 the ground, rain iS almost
-'.i'4N dfii a. i!ii4- iv' ~ i'4.DN' N!''
fii,s snd guaiS, which delight in warm strata
of ar. Now. a. warm ar il lighter, and
usually moist,r. than cold cir, when the
warm strata Of air are high there is l,ss
chance Of moisture being thown down from
them ~ their mixture with cold air; but
when the warm and moist air Is close TO the
surface it - almost certain that as the cold
air flows down into it, deposition Of water
will take place. When sea-gIlls assemble
on the land, very stormy and rainy weather
X approaching. The cause Of this mlyra-
ton to the land is the security of these birds
finding iOod; and they may be observed at
this time feeding greedlly on the earth
worries and larva driven out of the ground
by severe floods; while the fish on which
thy prey IN fine weather in the sea leave
the surface and go deeper in storms The
search after food is the principal cause why
animals change their places. The different
tibes OF the wadlng birds always migrate
when ram is about 10 take place. The vul-
ture, upon the same principle, follows arm
les and the augury of the anccntS was
doubtless good deal founded upon the OBJ
servation of the instincts of birds. There
are many superstitions of the vulgar owing
to the same source. For anglers, in spring,
it is always unlucky to see single magpcs;
but two may be always regarded as favor
able omen. The reason l., that in cold and !
stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the
nest in search of food, the other remaining
sitting upon the eggs or the young ones;
but two 90 out together only when the
weather is warm and mid, and favorable for
fishing. The singular connexions of causes
and effects make superstition less to be won
d,red at, particularly among the vulgar
4 I...f ,.h
have been accidentally coincidcn,, it is not
nrular that this coincidence should have
been observed and registered, and that
c,ncns of the most absurd kind should be
trusted in. In the west end Of England,
about century ago, a particular hollow
noise on the Sea-coast was referred to a Spir
it or goblin, call, d Bucca, and was supposed
To fortell a shipwreck. Now. the phioso-
pher knows that sound travels much faster
than currents in the air; and the sound al
ways foretold the approach of "a very heavy
storm, which seldom takes place on that
wild and rocky coast without shipwrech
on some part of the extensive shore sur
rounded by the Atlantic. In the 1st book
of Kings, ch. xviii, is described a cloud
which foretold wind as we'll as rain: BE
hold there ariSeth a little cloud from the sea
of the bigness of a mans hand And it
came to pass in the mean time, that the
heaven was black with clouds and wind,
and there was great rain"
Sir John Chardn informs us that, in his
time, great storms were wont to begin with
such a kind of cloud, and that it was the
sign OF them at sea in the eastern countries.
Arago has left us this important dictum
Whatever may he the progress of the sci
ences, never will observers who are trust
worthy and careful of their reputation, ven
ture to ioretell the state of the weather"