9. Fiery Whirlwind at Holkham, Norfolk.

By the Right Honorable Thomas Lord Lovell, F.R.S.

SOME of Lord Lovell's ploughmen, being at work, about the middle of August 1741, on a fair day, at ten o'clock in the morn. ing, saw on a heath about a quarter of a mile from them, a wind like a whirlwind, come gradually towards them, in a straight line from east to west. It passed through the field where they were at plough, tore up the stubble and grass in the ploughed ground, for two miles in length, and thirty yards in breadth. When it came to some closes at the top of a rising ground, some men there saw it appear like a great flash or ball of fire. To some others it appeared as a fire, and some saw only a smoke, and heard such a noise as fire makes when a barn is burning, and the wind making a terrible noise, like that of a violent fire, or like carts over a stoney ground, which passed by a house, tearing up the stones in the road; it tore up a rank of pales, sprung several of the posts out of their places and carried a pewter plate that stood on the outside of the window about forty yards from the house; also a large box-cover, about an inch and a half thick and four feet square and crossbarred, was carried away much farther, and torn all to pieces; and the gravel and stones flew about like feathers. It also broke down some fences, and frightened the cattle. And, what is very remarkable, every where else but in this place, the weather was clear and fine, and no sign of any storm or disturb. ance whatever. There was a strong smell of sulphur, both before and after the wind passed, and the noise was heard a great while after seeing the smoke. They said it moved so slowly forward, as to be near ten minutes in coming from the closes to the house. [Phil. Trans. 1742.

10. Whirlwinds of Sund.

IT not unfrequently happens that the same violence of wind and exhibiting a similar eddy, takes place in the sandy deserts of Africa and Arabia, and has occasionally swallowed up in its tre. mendous vortex caravans and whole armies.

Mr. Bruce has given a spirited description of one or two of

WHIRLWIND OF SAND, IN THE DESART OF ARABIA.

"At one o'clock," says

those, of which he was an eye witness. he, 66 we alighted among some acacia trees at Waadi el Halboub, having gone twenty.or.e miles. We were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight, surely one of the most magnificent in the world. In that vast expanse of desert, from W. to N.W. of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, at others stalking on with a majestic slowness; at intervals we thought they were com. ing in a very few minutes to overwhelm us; and small quantities of sand did actually more than once reach us. Again they would retreat so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often separated from the bodies, and these, once disjoined, dispersed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken in the middle, as if struck with large cannon-shot. About noon they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon us, the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of them ranged along side of us about the distance of three miles, The greatest diameter of the largest appeared to me at that distance as if it would measure ten feet. They retired from us with a wind at S.E. leaving an impression upon my mind to which I san give no name, though surely one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. It was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no use to carry us out of this danger; and the full persuasion of this rivetted me as if to the spot where I stood.

"The same appearance of moving pillars of sand presented themselves to us this day in form and disposition like those we had teen at Waadi Halboub, only they seemed to be more in number and less in size. They came several times in a direction close upon us, that is, I believe, within less than two miles. They began immediately after sun rise like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun. His rays shining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now became desperate, the Greeks shrieked out and said it was the day of judgment; Ismael pronounced it to be hell; and the Turcorories, that the world was on fire *.”

Dr. Darwin has given an animated and correct description of

Bruce's Travels, vol. IV. p. 553-555.

this fearful phenomenon in the following verses of his Botanic Garden.

"Now o'er their head the whizzing whirlwinds breathe,

And the live desert pants, and heaves beneath;
Tinged by the crimson sun, vast columns rise
Of eddying sands, and war amid the skies,
In red arcades the billowy plain surround,
And stalking turrets dance upon the ground.
-Long ranks in vain their shining blades extend,
To Demon-Gods their knees unhallow'd bend,
Wheel in wide circle, form in hollow square,
And now they front, and now they fly the war,
Pierce the deaf tempest with lamenting cries,
Press their parch'd lips, and close their blood-shot eyes,
-GNOMES! o'er the waste you led your myriad powers,
Climb'd on the whirls, and aim'd the flinty showers!-
Onward resistless rolls the infuriate surge,

Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains urge,
Wave over wave the driving desert swims,

Bursts o'er their heads, inhumes their struggling limbs;
Man mounts on man, on camels camels rush,

Hosts march o'er hosts, and nations nations crush,—
Wheeling in air the winged islands fall,

And one great earthy Ocean covers all!

CHAP. XLI.

THE PRESTER, OR WATER-SPOUT.

EDITOR.

SECTION 1.

General Remarks.

MANY of the preceding meteors, or atmospherical phænomena, and especially those described under the name of hurricanes, tornadoes, and whirlwinds, are connected, as we have occasionally. hinted at already, with the electric state of the atmosphere. We now advance to a meteor that is still more decidedly of this compound character, and which seems to be a combination of wind, aqueous vapour, and electric fluid.