The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-10-21
Graphic Description Of a Florida
TyphOOn.

SPUA W W AOo uCSTocS. AT ulSnC Ll0
heat is frequently intense. Without a
close sand-hy bar there is no rest and
with one no air. Grateful dews cool
the air before daylight, but coppery
sun soon reappears and up to nine a. m.
the atmosphere is like that of furnace.
Then refreshing trade wind sets in
from the southeast and blows steadily
until sundown. This trade wind lasts
three months, say from the middle of
June to about the same time in Sep-
tember. Without it, life on the eastern
coast would be insupportable. There
are days in which the air becomes
mucky and sticky. A dead land breeze
covers the earth. Sands and marshes
throw out tremulous heat, binding to
the eye; the leaves of the oleanders and
fig trees shrink under the burning ravs
OF the sun; the sky seems rooted by
brazen dome and gardens and groves
fairly pant for breath.
On the approach of autumn the Flor
idian quakes with apprehension. It is
the dread season of hurricanes. Tearing
through the West Indies they often
strike the coast with deadly effect.
With scarcely a note of warning houses
are overthrown, sailboats blown from
the water and orange groves swept bare
of leaves and fruit. Some of the old
settlers say they can detect signs of the
storm day before it breaks upon them.
=" You feel it in the air long before it
comes" says one. This is, however,
an indefinite sign. The devastation
lining its track certainly proves that
'you feel it in the air after it comes.''
One OF these typhoons visits the coast
every year. The day may be bright
and beautiful and the flowers heavy
with bees and humming birds. Shim-
mering mosquito hawks quiver in the
air and the scarlet cardinal twitters in
the acacias. A cooling breeze PLAYS
through the leaves of the trees and
gently swings the unripe oranges.
Clouds of gulls soar above the dark
green mangrove bushes and the sand
bars, at low tide, are covered with pen-
sive curlews and willets. The drowsy
roar of the surf is heard and the gentle
swell Of the ocean is rippled with gold
en- sheen.
Almost imperceptibly the wind dies
away. Cries of terms and water birds
fab upon the ear with painful distinct
ness. The mud hens of the marshes
pipe an alarm. Not blade of salt grass
moves. The blue sky grows hazy and
the eastern horizon is milky white. Fit
full gusts begin to ripple the water and
handle the green leaves. A low moan
comes from the ocean. Smoky clouds.
roll into the sky from the southeast and
q strong wind whitens the ruffled water.
Every minute it increases in fury. An
ominous yellow light tinges the atmos-
phere. 1he sun is gone and great drops
of rain are hurled to the ground. With
in fifteen minutes there is a gale and
soon the full force of the hurricane is
felt. Great eagles and pelicans are
swept through the heavens utterly pow
erless. Sparrows and other small birds
are lashed to death by leatless twigs,
and the torn bodies of snowy herons
and wild turkeys lodge in the branches
OF the live oak and cypress trees.
All the living things disappear. Tall
pines are twisted asunder. The 1.-the
limbs of willows and oleanders snap
like cow whips. Lofty palmettoes bend
their heads to the ground, their great
fans turned inside out like the ribs Of an
umbrella. The force of the wind
keeps the trees down until every
green fan pops like pistol-shot.
Orange groves are ripped into shoe
strings. The leaves of the scraggy
scrub on the beach are wiped out and
their stems whipped into little brushes.
The tough saw palmetto is blown as
flat as Northern wheat field and the
dead grass of the savannas lashed into
fine dust. Boards in the surf are struck
by the wind and sent spinning hundreds
of feet into the air. The sand dunes
are caught up bodily and sifted through
the tops of pine trees miles away. The
foam of the sea is blown beneath the
houses on the main land and comes up
between the cracks of the floor like
steam.
Woe to the owners of sail boats and
boat houses. At Lake Worth the
Cruiser, heavy round -bottomed sail
boat, thirty-two feet long, owned by
Captain Charles Moore, was picked up
from the ways, rigging and ali, and car
ried across the lake, a mile away,
without touching the water. A boat
owned by Dr.. Wallace of Castle
Windy was torn from her moorings,
lifted from the water and dropped
into q salt water marsh fringing
Mosquito Lagoon, 800 yards from the
castle. In the fall of 1876 the Ida
Smith, large schooner running be-
tween New Smyrna and Jacksonville,
was torn from her anchors and strand
ed on a marsh 500 yards from the ship
channel. The coast survey steamer in
q good harbor sheltered by sand banks,
threw out three anchors and kept her
wheels working against the wind under
q full head of steam. She dragged her
anchors several hundred yards and
barely escaped destruction.
These hurricanes last from seven to
eight hours, even longer. During the
lull rain falls in torrents. Tide rises to
a great height, carrying away wharves
and boat houses and flooding the coun-
try for miles. The ocean leaps the
sandy barriers of the coast and floods
the Indian and other salt water rivers,
involving great damage. After the
storm, center-boards and jib-stays are
found in spruce pines, oleanders are
loaded with cOrdaUe. and deadeves and