Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-06-21
ORIGIN OF WATERsPoUTs.
Forms I'm Which They Have Iseen
Seen-Where They are Common,
(NeW York Sum-

Once all sailors carried black-handled
knives, which the monster was be-
lieved to hold in special adherence.
When a spot made It's appearance
these knives were produced and
pointed in Its direction, waved in the
air SO as to make the sign of the
cross, or, according to the recommen-
dation of certain contemporary au-
thorities, driven several times into
sages from the Gospel Of st. John
were recited as charms against wa
terspouts.
A loud noise OF any kind was also
believed to be efflcacious against
them-shouts, the clash Of swords,
the beating Of drums and gongs, etc.
The custom Of firing cannon against
waterspouts, says the Scientific
American, dates back at least as far
as the sixteenth century. The origi-
nal idea appears to have been to
frighten them away by the noise of
the report; but in later times 1t was
believed that the watery column
could be cut in twain by the cannon
ball and the spout thus dissipated.
1t would be interesting to know whe-
ther the cannonading Of waterapouts
Is still sometimes practiced. 1t was
certainly common much less than
century ago. 1t is hardly necessary
to say that 1t Is entirely futile.
In French they are all called
trombes (from the italian tromba, a
trumpet, or the Spanish trombo, a
top, IN allusion to their visible form }
There Is no essential difference be-
tween the waterspout and the land
spout; in both the Visible Spout" Ia
mass of water vapor, the condensa-
0P hfN1, 10 I,,n
OF moist air under the diminished
pressure within vortex in the at
mosphere; but in the landspout this
Yapor Is mingled with dust and other
terrestrial objects sucked up by the
spout from the surface over which it
passes. =.
Dust whirls occur only when the
surface of the ground Is. excessively
heated, and during their brief exist
ence they are fed by the inflow Of the
lower air. The sharp contrasts of
temperature that produce them are
characteristic Of land surface as
compared with water surface; yet
1T Is over the latter that spouts are
, most frequent. Here, then, is one
point Of difference between the dust
whirl and the spout
Another is the fact that no surface
inflow OF the air Is observed about a
spout except Immediately within it.
A watcrspout may pass within a few
hundred feet Of the vessel when the
latter is absolutely becalmed. Both
OF these circumstances prove the in
accuracy Of the common statements
that spouts are due to an unstable
condition Of overheated air at the
earth's surface
Both theory and observation indi-
l E.Ftse seF,a
mates NJ a &OnSidnr&Nia alll,uda s1oye
Vie earth. vin,, at the level O. me
'nidd'o or ioWer clouds--ara Is
tpencg pTnpagHtHd downward The
&Nuian@t!on e! its Hrtsiu mll5t he
: sought IN the contrasts of tempera-
ture occurring at high levels on the
: margin of a large cyclone, the zone
, In which spouts originate being iden-
tical with that in which squalls are
also most common.
Frequently 1t fails to reach the
earth's surface. Incomplete water
spouts are often observed dangling
rom the clouds, with no agitation of
tne M water beneath such as would in
dicate that the vortex extended to
the lowest stratum of the air.
| Waterspouts are common within
| tne tropics, especially in the equato-
| RAJ region of calms and battling
| winds known as the "doldrums. "
Inc East Indies, the Guinea coast,
the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
are some OF their favorite haunts.
1t Is hardly necessary to state that
waterspout does not consist of wa
ter In the ordinary sense Of the
term. vortex in the air, formed as
descrlDed above, Is gradually push
ca ca aownward' If 1t reaches the sur
race or the ocean the latter will be
violently disturbed, the water will
be dashed upward in the form Of
waves and spray to height of many
feet, forming the characteristic broad
base Of the spout.
Extending above to the level OF the
clouds the centrifugal action of the
vortex causes, within itscore, a rare
faction Of the air--a regiSn Of dimin-
ished pressure-in whichNwater va
por, previously gaseous and ,nyisible.
Is condensed, by the cooling due to
expansion, into column ofM mist.
This column Is often a mere w@tery
film, so that vessels, mountains and
the like, lying beyond the spout can
be distinctly seen through it. \
When waterspout suddenly
breaks, owing to cessation of its
vertical motion, its moisture may be
discharged downward in the form Of
a torrential rain. This has some
times happened over ship, and the
water was observed to be fresh, not
salt, proving that no considerable
part OF it was drawn directly from
the ocean
The forms Of waterspouts are vari-
Gus. Sometimes they are seen singly,
sometimes In groups. AS many as
twenty have been observed at one
time. Their height, in extreme cases,
may reach nearly mile.
Some Of the most interesting de-
| c n i>t ;nnS Il iof,