Capes Carmel, Grecgo, and Laodicea.. Both our water-fpouts
were formed within, or near the entrance o f Cook’s Straits, between
the two ifles o f'N ew Zeeland, among many projecting head-lands,
.at the mouth o f founds and bays, extending feveral leagues up. the
country, and forming remarkable w in ding s*.
Fourthly., Water-fpouts are commonly obferved in a calm, after
hard gales, .and fometimes after warm, mild weather, efpecially
when the upper region of the air is remarkably cooler; for we had
met w ith fmart ihowers o f rai-n the preceding day, and it blew hard all
the night before : in the morning, the violence o f the wind gradually-
abated, and it became mild. When the water-fpouts were jult
forming, the thermometer was at 561% which had been at y i “ the
day before. During the.time that one o f them approached us, fome
hail fell, which proves the upper region o f the; atmofphere to- have
been cooler than the lower, by-20 degrees at lead; and, after the
fpouts had all difappeared, the thermometer was a t^ V c o n fe q u en t -
ly even the atmofphere below, had been remarkably cooled in three,
quarters o f an hour.
Mr. de Buffo», vol. ii. p. 287. edit, in i2mo, finds it neceilary,
in order to account for all the phenomena attending water-fpouts,
to fuppofe that there is always a place under the fea, where fome
fubterraneous
* Whoever is defirons of meeting with more inftances of water-fpouts being formed near
lands-, or in the .eddies between two winds, may have rceourfe to the PbiloJhpbicalTrmfalliom,
and Dr. Franklins above-mentioned ingenious book.
A T M O S P H E R E .
fubterraneous fire releafes a great deal o f air, which raifes the fea,
caufes a bubbling and a fmoke, and unites the clouds with the fea,
by a fpout. But we cannot help remarking, that the vapours appeared
to all o f us, as fleam raifed by violent winds, and by no means
as fmoke produced by fire. Nay, had the place been heated by a
fubterraneous fire, the thermometer would certainly have rifen
higher; but we obferved it to fall, which clearly proved the air to
have become cooler. I will only add, that the rarefaction o f the
air and eledlricity, are certainly more than fufficient for the explanation
o f the various phasnomena o f this meteor.
V Katar £sf alumna, palm fpijjattts humor rigenfque ip fefe fn ß in ct. E x ooilan gam e £s inlmgum
sveluti fiß u la nubes aquam trahiu
' . P l in i i H iß, Nat. lib. ii, c, 49.
S E C T I O N II.
A E R I A L P H E N O M E N A .
.FAy?, E Z I E R obferved under the tropic, at fun-fetting, a
green cloud; and hedefcribes.it as a thing very lingular;
Thofe who are acquainted with colours, and the various effefts o f their
mixtures, 'know that green is naturally produced by-mixing yellow
and blue. Th e natural colour of the Iky, an d 'o f a great many
clouds, is b lue : the fetting fun commonly gilds all the fky and
Q__2 clouds
1 : S
ATMOSPHERE.
AERIAL
PHENOMENA.