New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-03-05
THE SOUTH SEA HURRICANE.

Until further tidings from the Society and
Tuamotu Islands are received, It will be permits
sible TO hope that the recent loss Of life there
has been greatly exaggerated Such is often the
case when the first imperfect reports of disas-
tiers reach the public. 1t was feared, for IN
stance, that fully two hundred persons were
killed last week by the storm which visited Me-
ridian, Miss. but the original estimate proved
10 be ten times too large. The belief that ten
thousand lives were lost In the South Pacific
last month is probably mere guesswork, and not
justified by any trustworthy statistics.
The type Of meteorological disturbance which
has undueStonably made great havoc in the
Society Islands can be identified without diff
Guilty. 1t was evidently a tropical hurricane,
like those occasionally reported from the Carib-
bean Sea, the Indian Ocean and the vicinity of
China and Japan. Such storms develop late In
the summer or early In the autumn. In the
Southern Hemisphere, It will be remembered,
February and March correspond to the months
Of August and September IN this hemisphere,
and the Society Islands lie about as far south Of
the equator as the West Indies are north of IL.
Hurricanes cause death IN several ways,
wrecking houses, overwhelming ships and raising
enormous tidal waves, by which low lying coasts
are either suddenly or gradually submerged.
The first Of these effects is frequently observed
IN the West Indies; the second was strikingly
eXemplifled IN the harbor Of Apia, In the Samoan
Islands, in 1889, and the third was witnessed in
Galveston six or eight years ago, when ten
thousand persons persisted in consequence Of the
| banking up Of the waters OF the Gulf of Mexico
! TO height unprecedented IN that locality. 1t
/ is within the bounds Of possibility, therefore
| that several thousands persisted last month in
the Society Islands and their neighborhood,
though, as we have said, It is improbable that
such was the case.
Although the kind of storm which made
mischief in Meridian the other day is often
called cyclone" meteorologists prefer to
designate 1t q tornado" and to reserve the
other name for the tropical hurricane. To be
sure, both are rotary; and the Greek word from
which cyclone" is derived means "a circle"
But confusion is avoided if the use of the
term is limited TO one or the other species of
disturbance for there are many points of diff
ference between them. The cyclone is sea born
while the tornado is usually observed only on
land When IL develops over the ocean It as
sunes the form OF q waterspout The cyclone
lasts Tor days-perhaps more than week; the
tornado is ephemeral rarely enduring beyond
a few minutes. The one has a diameter Of at
least 90 or 100 miles. and the other rarely meas
| ures more than 600 feet across In the early
Stages or their history cyclones generally adj
! vance very slowly. For this reason they may
continue TO destroy life and property In q given
SPOT Tor more than twenty -four hours. The Sa-
moan hurricane began 10 make trouble at Apia
on March 10 and did not finish its work until
the 18th 1t is said that the cyclone which has
just visited the Society Islands was felt on
hebruary and s. The progressive motion OF a
tornado (which, Of course, Is q different thing