The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-06
TonNA DoFs Ann THUNDFRsroRMs

quite enough to account for all the devastation
that occurs upon islands Of the sea or on the
solid mainland. The spirits Of the air are
sufficiently malignant and potent, whether
they act in conjunction with the awful in
nuences of the void above and the abyss
below, or vent their own unaided fury upon
the habitations of man. Whether they come
on as the hot sirocco Of Egypt the kermattan
of the Guinea Coast, or the sitting simeon of
the Great Desert, they are appalling. Bat
Victor Hugo has designated them all in Ian
guage Of matohless force, that has been eagerly
peTused by thousands of American readers in
his '"Toilers of the Sea-" We shall not at
tempt to repeat the description, but con6ne
ourselves to a few salient incidents.
Our daily papers, particularly the organs OF
the French population residing in New York,
have given accounts more or less desultOry
and inooheIent Of the frightful cyclone which
seems to have ravaged all the West India
islands, excepting Havana, within the last
thirty days. We may briefly state that the
Danish colonies, being the northernmost Of
these groups, were the first to feel the tempest
which struck st. Thomas, on the 25th of 0c-
tobeT, coming from the northwest, and ragged
from 2 O'Clock until 6 p. NJ, destroying in the
four hours property that cannot be replaced
in years. II devastated the southern half of
Porto Rico on the night Of the 10Th, and the
south Of San Domingo on the morning Of the
OOtD, everywhere plOWlDB QOWn houses, sweep
ing the country clear of crops and stock, and
sinking or hurting ashore all the shipping in
the roadsteads.
The same scenes were resnacted at St. Pierre
and the Fort de France, in the French colony
OF Martinique, on the night of the 9TH and Sth
instant; and Tortola, British island, was, at
least, completely drenched and desolated by
the billows. At Calcutta, Hong Kong, Mata-
moTas, Manila, and close to Sitka Island, in
the North Pacific, our new possession, the
same cyclone or its coadjutors continued their
dread work. The sum total of property destroyed
is estimated at $4,000, 900, and of life lost
at 10000 including the destruction at Tortola.
Over 200 ships of different nations, and 5000
dwellings and public buildings went down;
fire in some cases complicating the distress.
We have had many tornadoes on this conti-
nent, but none comparable in fury to these
West Indian storms, although, in Iowa and
other Western States, whole districts have
suffered. The most terrific of these tornadoes
ever known in the United States was that
which enveloped Charleston, s. c., on the ID
Of May, l76l. 1t was nearly equal to the worst
Cyclone. 1t came up Wappo creek like
dense column of smoke, and contained such
prodigious mass of vapor, in such rapid revo-
luton, that the channel of Ashley river was
completely laid bare. When it reached the
river, it made noise like continuous thunder.
Among the Antilles, in the Gulf of Mexico,
or in the East Indies, these cyclones seem like
a return to original night and chaos. Some
times, again, the whole sky and sea appear in
flames. Vessels caught in them, if they live
at all, lose every sail, and half dozen stall
wart men, working together for their lives, can
hardly hold the helm.
In an awful storm of this kind, on July 25,
1926, at Guadaloupe, the wind at the height
of it's intensity seemed luminous; a silver
flame played from all the points and inter-
stices of the walls, keyholes, and other issues,
and made the trembling inmates of the houses
think that the heavens were on fire The
diameter of these cyclones, or circular storms,
varied from fifty to one hundred miles, and
their height from one to ten miles.
But these dreadful tempests are not by any
means confined to the more torrid portions of
the earth, as the experience of France, Eng
land, and the United States only too fully
proves. The tropical record is one long mar
rative of disastrous storms, increasing, how
ever, in intensity in these later years. The
annals of the temperate zones do not offer 80
many instances but there have been some
which history and tradition will transmit to
the Iemotest generations.
OF these the most recent and terrible may,
with prOpriety, be briefly mentioned here.
July l6, 1866, was made memorable by the
most awful thunderstorm ever witnessed at
Paris About l p. M. the clouds gathered
in less than ten minutes, the capital was
plunged in darkness. The rain fell in such
torrents that the streets were Immediately
inundated, and many workmen employed in
the public sewers, not having time to regain
their ladders, perished. The thunder was
continuous and perfectly appalling for three
hours, and the lightning struck more than
two hundred places, directing its chief fury
upon the Quarter Latin, and including
churches, hospitals, and academies inits despe-
rate attacks. ~
Gay, skeptical Paris was struck dumb with
horror, and 'the bravest held his breath for a
time" The statue OF liberty surmounting the
column of July, on the site OF the old Bastile.
was dazzlingly illuminated and surrounded
with halo of ruddy light, until evening. All
night long, fear rested on the hearts of nearly
1900, 600 of people, and 1t was twenty-four
hours before they breathed freely again.
On the Goth of last August, about in the
evening, a thunderstorm unequalled in vio-
lence for century past, burst upon London,
and lasted all night, blowing off roofs, causing
conflsgrations, and levelling crops in the sur-
rounding country, with an extent of damage
amounting to $1,000 900 sterling. Nearly a
hundred persons were struck by the lightning,
and lady of rank residing some miles from
the metropolis died of fright at the height of
the tempest. Several counties suffered and
their inhabitants were wild with alarm.
On the night of August Is, a grand thun-
derstorm passed near Portland, Me-, and
swept over Gorham, North Yarmouth, PoWnal,
and Durham, unrOofng buildings, tearing up
trees, and prostrating crops. AT Casca,
Bridgton, Winthrop, Leeds, and Waterville,
the thunder was as regular as the swift beat
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