, 1884-07-02
A TROPICAL RAIN.
Showers Besides Which Ours in This
Country Are Trifes.
First In Drops, Then In Sheets, and
Then In Ono Vast Cataract
Watching IA Storm (.
Cloud. -


@NS ANAAf rs ma HN III III IlANaIltt IIb
yellow fever is sweeping down its victims, tho
Americans who ave been wintering there
went back weeks ago. and those few Cubans
who have got the means are In New York or
on their way to Europe Never was rain
more needed than when it began TO fall there
a few days ago. For months the hot sun
had pierced an absolutely clear sky, and the
last drop OF moisture seemed to have dried
out of the earth. Vegetation was burning
up, the trees spread brown foliage TO the hot
winds, cattle and sheep were dying OF thirst,
and fortunes on the plantations hung
In tho balance between destruction by
heat and salvation through rain
The first rain On the western end
OF the island fell in MatanzGs on a Sunday
night, ju.t as all the ladies were giviug the
last touches to their lace mantillas, prepara-
tory to going out to the plaza to hear the
military band and to see tho gentlemen pass
and repass, curling their mustschios and
smoking their everlasting cigarettes Just
then down came the rain, first In drops, then
in sheets, and then in one vast cataract
The strangers who were in the ely had no
chance to $50 the wonders OF a tropical ra ~
storm because 1t was dark, but the oppor-
tunity came next day. Tho train In which
the writer had a seat was midway between
Mntanzas and Havana. The sun was blnz-
ing down, the cattle were painting In the
shade of bushes and buildings, and the breeze
that played across the cane fields was an ag-
gravauon. Tho cara had pulled up at a
station.
Flop, came something like a bucket of
water; splash, sounded another fall OF rain;
dor, hop, splash, came more gigantic drops,
and then the heavens opened and the rains
descended and the flood CAME In a manner
most startling to u New Yorker, who reuem-
beers the one or two fierce rains of each sum.
ner ut home, and is bound to confess that tho
saverest of them would not AMI as u genuine
drizz.e beside this shower. Down came tue
rain In one vast sheet, not with a patter or
the beating sound rain sometimes has, but
with the roar ahd unbrokan splash of a mill
dams umbling waters. It all came In 1--WE
seconds- In that time the horizon ran in
ward until The outer limit of vision formed a
circle smaller than the bowling green.
There were no intervening slnnting
lines OF rain drops. There were layers
Instead. When the wind was still, one
could see the water falling in fiat
sheets. When the wind arose tho strata of
water in the air wavej and tremble! or broke
and blended. Without interruption came
the two accompanying sounds-the rush
aud roar in the air and the splashing on the
ground. Enormous palm branches came
tumOling down, two or three at a time, and,
striking close TO the cars, hoated down the
railroad cutting, for the ground could not
begin to absorb the water as 1t fell, and SO it
rose aud deepened above ground until the
train stood in a lake, into which water from
TIE higher level poured over the edges of the
shallow road cutting.
"Ah! it's raining" said one passenger.
yes but Pm afraid 1t won't be much OF a
shower" said the other.
Did you ever see It rain as much before5'
the writer inquired.
"This is quite an ordinary RAIN said one
OF the passengers; good enough If it keeps
on, but l am afraid it won't"
up in Sanctu Espiritu, where l belong"
said another, where men arc scarce and the
land is covered with forests, l nave seen it
ram Just like this, night and day, without
cessation, for thirteen days, l believe it used
to rain like that here before they cut all the
trees down and dried up tho streams"
The rain lasted just twenty minutes, and
then the sunshine shot out from behind the
clouds, gliding all the dripping foliage and
turning into silver the water-covered surface
OF the earth. The train assed close to an
other shower in the next half hour, and the
view from the car-windows gave an insight
into the action which produced such a tire
mendous rainfall. A mass OF dense, black
clouds hung over the earth. Suddenly some
thing like a streamer or banner of thin black
cloud fell to the ground. 1t fell as straight
as a p%lummet, but lightly. Then at another
point the fiat under surface Of the big cloud
began to tear. Little points protrudod from
it, then heightened into long tat.
teis, then widened, ran together,
formed another banner, aud fell grace
fully to the ground. The big cloud began
to sink very slowly toward the earth aud
other points, and streamors became broad
sheets aud fell from it until in three minutes
The onrth and the cloud had come together,
aud unquestionably the tons of water that
had been suspended in the air were rushing
down upon the ground. Trees, groves, and
buildings that hal been in plain sight were
now hi iten, and to all appearances the cloud
hnd settled on the earth. Fearful shafts of
lightning hurled themselves in direct lines
from tho heart of the cloud down upon the
ground, Sd rapidly and spitefully that the
eye could scarcely follow the flashes. On
rolled the train, nni AS its wet sides wer.
seen in ReGla, across the bay from Havana,
the people looked at them wonderingly.
"Had it been really rainingi" they inquired.
The news seemed too good TO be true. They
hal not seen a drop OF rain In months. Now
it will rain every afternoon for weeks to
CONS.