, 1884-05-17

49, 80 hLO u
fatally, within sight. The chance of the
bolt, which is by no means a remote one. !
does not sOothe the nerves; and if tn
discharges have continued, as often Der.<
haps, for five or six hours, the watcher. =,
perhaps with a Shivering household round
HIM, Is III no condition to observe Scienti.
icalty, or, indeed, TO do anything except
wait with a certain doggedness, and hat
rising of the temper which a true hurricane
often %prOv0keS. The noise is so exasperat.
ing, and the wind does seem so devilisb in
it's malice. 1t does not blow and then
leave Oft, leave off and then blow again, as
it does here; but keeps on blowing with a
steady, persistent, maddening rush, which
IS more like the sway of the tide against
you when you are half-drowned. than the
action OF anything which in Europe we
call wind. We suppose the rush is not
quite continuous, for the distinct and shat.
tering blows on the walls which seem to
accompany 1t must really be part of it.
ana indicate gusts but there never is a
ONE while the hurricane lasts when
the opening of a shutter or a door would
not be followed by the entrance of what
seems not wind, but an invisible batttring
ram. The writer once saw IL shutter in.
cautiously lOOSened while a hurricane was
high, and pressing outside like a hydraulic
press. In an instant, not only were the
shutters blown i'll and himself flung down
as by Il heavy weight, but the open door of
Il large wardrobe Standing against the wall
was blown off its hinge, as if struck by q
machine. 1t had not six inches to recede.
and the hinges must have been literally
crushed out. The struggle with the con.
tinuous impact Of a blind force Of this
kind, pressing inwards for hours, is very
terrifying, for no experience will make YOU
believe in the resisting power of the walls.
1t seems as II they must come down, and
If they do, You may be dead in five seconds.
or worse still, stand suddenly alone in the
world The Imprisonment, too, is nearly
perfect. a hurricane will last sometimes
twenty hours, and during that time there
is no five minutes during which YOU can
walk ten Yards. If you flee the wind. it
strangleS you, literally and actually ren-
dering respiration impossible and as Won
turn round, You are thrown sharply down.
There is nothing for it but crawling, and
that is difficult, for whatever the scientific
explanation may be, it is qui c certain that
the vertical edge of a tropical hurricane
comes, in its full strength, much lower
down, nearer the earth, than that of an
English gale. All the while, moreover, we
repeat for the third time-for after all, it
is in this that the special horror of a hurri-
cane conSiStS-the watcher retains, ever
rising higher and more reSiStleSs, that no.
ton Of the deliberate malice of the ele-
mentS, Of being attacked by them, of Suf-
fering from the spite and anger Of some
S~entient will, which is at once hostile aud
peryerSe. You are lighting, while it lasts,
not enduring. This is not the impression
Of Al imaginative or Over-senSitive man.
1t is strongly felt by children, who some
times grow i'll with the fatigue Of a storm
which has not touched their bodies, but
has reused all their energies in resistance"
of hours while among adults it is nearly
universal and SO strong, that very good
men indeed have been known to lose con-
troll Of themselves, and break into wrathtul
culSing at the wind, which neverthe.
theleSS was still outside. The terror q
hurricane creates will not, however,
wholly account for the universal impress
sion Of observers that the force OF a trO.
pical hurricane, as compared with 81
gale, is scientifically moderated. There
is a force in the former beyond the ap-
parent difference in pace, q driving strength
persistent and prolonged, which we have
never seen thoroughly accounted for. Can
the mass of the rushing air be perceptibly
weightier, though the pace is not much
more rapid, or are its blows directed
through II different medium? A bullet
will not strike hard through a very fleet
sheet of water. Just before a cyclone,
that marvellous clearneSs of the tropical
atmosphere which always so developeS
eveSight, enabling the ShOrt-Sighted to
Spp. and making all edTeS so painful " dis.