Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-03-16
Rain-Sforms in HFevien.

Without its periodic rains,-Which,
especially In the warm lands, serve to
determine the seasons, -Mexico would
IN part be sterile. But storms, frequent
on the coast and on the plateaus, and
OF daily occurrence in the temperate
lands, refresh the atmosphere and swell
the torrents and rivers, which having
no embankments whatever, overflow
and cover the surrounding country to a
distance of sixty miles with yellOWish
waters. The storms of Mexico, as well
known as its annual earthquakes, begin
IN June and end In October. The
spectacle Is at once terrible, grand, and
impressive. The heavens are clear
the atmosphere sitting, an enervating
calm Iulls all animated nature to sleep,
"a calm which it seems nothing could
disturb. Suddenly the top of a steel
gray cloud rises above the horizon on the
Atlantic side and grows perceptibly
larger and larger. Intermittent gusts
OF wind sweep the earth, raise columns
OF dust, scatter it IN the upper regions
OF the atmosphere and veil the bril-
liancy of the sun. The violence of the
blast increases, the leaves are twisted
about the branches of the trees bend
and crash. The frightened birds, ut
tering plaintive cries, fly with quickly
beating wings in all directions; while
the quadrupeds bray, roar, neigh, bend
their heads, scrape the ground with
their feet, and man grows anxious. The
sky becomes black, it is dusk before its
time; then all noises except those
caused by the wind, are suddenly
hushed. A lightning flash burst forth
from the dark cloud that is almost
within reach of the hand, with noise
like that made by the rending of an i'm
mense sail; the rain Immediately pOurs
down In torrents. The flashes Of light.
ming now follow without interruption,
binding the eyes with their white
flames; and the earth trembles under
the repeated claps of thunder, whose
rumbling the mountain echo reverber-
ates and multiplies. For an hour,
nature battling with the elements
seems destined to humiliation in a
furious and blind struggle which
threatens a food. Streams of yellow,
red, or black water, according to the
nature of the soil through which it
flows, descends from the high peaks
with roaring sound, their courses
cross, they unite with one another, and
are transformed into torrents. Vege-
tatiOn is swept away, trees .uprooted,
and rocks, rolled along as if of no
weight, bound with a crash on the
slopes and are precipitated to the bot
tom Of the valleys and into the depths
of unfathomed gorges. From these
abysses, which the water seems anxious
to fill up, and which are inhabited by
beings that love the darkness, ascend
clamOrs, wild cries, and Kisses. During
these sinister moments, the earth over
powered by the angry heavens, seems
to writhe and tremble in terrible agony
under the increasing blows dealt it by
the furious elements.
At last, the immense cloud loses its
inky color, and assumes grayish tints
The wind dies out, the noises cease,
day reappears, then the sun. Sud
denly the birds sing, the insects buzz,
and the vultures darting up into the
laved atmosphere. describing their
mysterious circles We breath; a
healthy Odor arises from the soil and
The fragrant flowers exhaIe sweet per-
fumes. 1t seems like dream; but the
morrow viii bring the same phenomena,
the same struggles, the same terrors,
and the same feeling of inanity.-''The
AztecS," by LGLctd95 Bart