The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-01-21
CONTINUOUS COMMANDMENT.
Places on the Globe Where Thunder an
Lightning Are Incessant


Tho phenomenon known rs lightning,
followed by q rolling rcverbcratlng report,
recognized as thunder, Is common 10 a
wide zone OF the earth, but 1t is not gcnor-
ally known that there arc localities where
the vivid flashes and the deafcning peals
arc inccsssnt. The most notable OF these
continuous lightning districts Ia on the
eastern coast Of the island Of San Domin.
go, a leading member Of the group OF tho
West Indies
1t Is not meant that the lightning Is hero
continuous the year round but that with
The commencement Of tho rainy season
tonnes this ziRzag feature Of electric illumi-
nation which is then continuous day and
night for weeks. The storm center IL not
continuously local, but shifts over con-
siderable urea, and as thunder Is seldom
heard over greater distance than eight
miles, and the lightning in the night will
illuminate so ns to he seen 80 miles, there
may be days in some localities where the
twinkle on the sky Is In a continuous sue
ccssion, while the rolling reports are alb
sent. Then again come days and nights
when the electric artillery is piercing in
Its dctonations, and especially is this the
case when two separate local cloud ccnters
join, as It werc, in an electrical duel, and,
a. sometimes occurs, u third participant
appears to add TO the elemental warfare
Then there Is blazing sky, with binding
vividness and stunning poals that seem TO
pin the listener to the earth Long before
the echoes can die away come Others, un-
til the auricular mechanism seems ham.
mcrcd into chaos
just how and why II Is that there Is here
generated so immense an amount Of cleo.
tricity as TO keep up such an inoessant liz.
milton Is one Of those problems that can
only be solved when sufficient data arc at
hand to work upon. II Is probable that,
with the commencement Of the rainy sen
son this region is the border Of opposing
air and ocean currents whose friction has
something to do In the case This would
tend to bring into contact opposing clouds
variously charged, and AS lightning il the
passing Of electricity from one cloud to
another seeking equilibrium, or the pass.
ing of the fluid from a cloud to tho earth,
II Is probable that In this continued fric
ton of currents may be found u starting
point to unravel the mystery Ii Is in
swirling and opposing cloud strata, espc.
cially where these get into gyratory mo-
ton, that electrical phenomena are most
abundant, Just as in an even, uniform flow
Of clouds such disturbance is rarer and
often entirely absent.
1t would not seem, from the meagcr in
formation bearing on this matter, that the
electrical interchange is between the clouds
and the earth rs there is no reference
made to what are termed lightning strokes
when the descending current strikes a
tree, building or other object, or strikes
the ground directly. But 1t would certainly
be trying ordeal ON any fairly balanced
nervous organization TO behold blazing
sky for days and nights together and lis
ten to the incessant rolling of the thunder
until the very senses seemed stupcfled to
further recognition. Happily such locali-
ties have been rarely bestowed by nature,
and this one Is Stunned by the dusky ma
tives, and the more advanced fauna, when
the wet season approaches, leave it by In
Dispatch.