Seas and Skies in Many Latitudes; or, Wanderings in search of weather ... Maps and illustrations

Front matter

SEAS AND SKIES IN MANY LATITUDES Frontispiece. The Ropes of Maui. SEAS AND SKIES IN MANY LATITUDES OK aBimoerings in geardt of iEeather BY THE Hon. RALPH ABERCROMBY FELLOW OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, LONDON ; AUTHOR OF "PRINCIPLES OF FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS," WEATHER," ETC. MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON: EDWAED STANFORD 26 & 27 COCKSPUE STEEET, CHAEING CEOSS, S.W. PKEFACE Nobody would be justified in publishing a book of travels in the present day, when all the world is journeying, unless he had something to tell either in the way of adventure or of special research. Of adventure there is nothing in this book ; there is no more adventure now in an ordinary voyage round the world than in travelling from London to Edinburgh. The special object of the voyages was to investigate the phenomena of the sky and weather in various parts of the world.

Numberless books of exploration and adventure have been published, and numerous naturalists' voyages have met with an appreciative reception from the hands of the public. Geologists and astro nomers have succeeded in interesting the general reader in their journeyings ; but no meteorologist has yet attempted the task. The different races of man and beast, the varying forms of plant life, the mountains and rocks, the shells and fossils in all parts of the world, have

Preface

VI all fascinated the imagination of many readers ; but strange to say, one of the most striking aspects of nature — the face of the sky — has never been method ically described by any traveller. Volumes have been written on the climates of the world, and innumerable descriptions have been pub lished of thunderstorms and hurricanes ; but the cloudland, which gives life to every land or seascape, has hitherto attracted but little notice. The Author has attempted in this book to describe the clouds and weather in the numerous countries he has visited, and to reproduce some of the photographs which he took from time to time in many latitudes. While describing beaten tracks, he has only given enough narrative to bind the subject together ; but when giving an account of less well-known countries, such as Fiji or Borneo, he has added more complete descriptions.

He has specially endeavoured to take a cosmopoli tal view of a subject when comparing the rival merits of places or things. For instance, a squatter coming down from the dry hills and monotonous gum-tree scrub of Australia may perhaps think the magnificent harbour of Sydney one of the most beautiful in the world, but any one who has also seen the harbour of Rio Janeiro will admit that the former cannot compare in grandeur to the latter.

PREFACE.

VII One of the Author's strongest wishes was to encounter a tropical hurricane, either on sea or land, as there are several doubtful points connected with these storms which he hoped to settle by personal observation. But, though he selected the hurricane season for visiting Mauritius, and sailed all through the China seas in hope of meeting with a typhoon, he was not successful in his search. Still he collected a vast amount of novel information in different hurri cane countries, which he hopes will be of use to scientists and seamen. As this is a popular work, all technical details have been omitted from the body of the book, but a few points of special interest to meteorologists have been printed in appendices. The Author begs to acknowledge his obligation to the Councils of the Royal Society and of the Physical Society ; and also to the publishers of the Illustrated London News, and Nature, for the loan of blocks which have already appeared in their various publications.

He is also much indebted to Mr. R. Pritchett for giving an artistic rendering to some of his own rough sketches of very difficult subjects, and for the beautiful sketch of edible birds' nests. London, October PAGE 1 24 45 CONTENTS

Chapter I

In Canada : The Music of Niagara Start from Liverpool — Stormy weather and "corposants" — Newfoundland fog and ice-blink — Character of Canadian winter — Blizzards — The Confederate war — Influence of battles on weather — Great summer heat — Beauty of the fall — The Saguenay — The music of Niagara

Chapter II

To Egypt : Climate and Religion Start from London — Storminess of the Bay of Biscay — Naples — Stromboli — Fata Morgana — Ismailia — Artificial influence on rainfall — Cairo — Ophthalmia — Influence of climate on religion

Chapter III

To Australia : Voyages for Health Start for Melbourne — The Red Sea — Cloud names — Trade cumulus — Sunset in the Tropics — Crepuscular rays — The north-west monsoon — Diego Garcia — Eruption of Krakatoa — The " doldrums " — The south-east trade — Adelaide — Voyages for health .... CONTENTS X PAGE 64 82 105 131 142

Chapter IV

To New Caledonia : Convict Life Melbourne — Mr. R. Ellery — Forecasting in Australia — Rain in Australia — Picture of Australian bush — Moral development of the people — Sydney Harbour — Land and sea breezes — Noumea — Vegetation in New Caledonia — Convicts — Arrival in Fiji ....

Chapter V

In Fiji: A Strange Craft Aspect of Suva — Native peculiarities — Tropical vegetation — Sugar plantation — Picture of scenery — Different kinds of coolies — Climate and diseases of Fiji — Canoeing up the river — Native village and customs — Weather in Fiji — A Fiji ship .....

Chapter VI

Among the Islands : The Meeting of the Chiefs Start from Kandavu — Sea serpents — War canoes — A native dinner — Yaqona drinking — Mekes — Cooking turtle — A native service — Missionary enterprise in the Pacific — Landing at Tavuki — Piles of food — Cannibalism — The Ve bose .....

Chapter VII

In the Pacific : The Legend of Maui Trip to Ovalau — Homing pigeons — Beauty of a coral reef — Contrast between Pacific Islands and Malay Archipelago — Diverging rays of light — The legend of Maui — Arrival at Auckland

Chapter VIII

To New Zealand : The Destruction of the Terraces Road through the bush — " Bush lawyer" — Rata — Ohinemutu — Natural cooking pot — Bathing — Terraces of Lake Rotomahana — Their origin — Their destruction in a few minutes . . . . CONTENTS XI PAGE 154 175 193 209 223

Chapter IX

Rounding Cape Horn : Big Waves Windy Wellington— Weather in South Pacific— Great circle sailing- Velocity of the wind — Height, length, and speed of the waves- Rounding Cape Horn — Glacial conditions — Rio Janeiro — Nervous epidemics on board ship— Doldrums — Haze and cloud in the north-east trade ......

Chapter X

In the Arctic Circle : The Midnight Sun Rainy Bergen — Big wind-vanes — Vikings— Mists and clouds — Glacial action — Viking ships — Cod fisheries — Whale-boiling — Lapps— Reindeer — The midnight sun — North Cape — Vardo — White Sea .

Chapter XI

Archangel : The Aurora Borealis Soroka — Appearance and customs of the people — Monastery of Solivetski — Pilgrimages — Archangel — English and Russian peasants — A cargo of deals — Aurora in the Arctic Circle

Chapter XII

To the Cape of Good Hope : Diamonds Objects of voyage — Gale in the Bay of Biscay — Lisbon — North-east trade — Dust haze — Cold off Cape Blanco — Passage of the "doldrums " — The south-west monsoon — The south-east trade — Cape Town — The "table-cloth" — Cape diamonds .

Chapter XIII

To Mauritius : Hurricanes The coast of Cape Colony — Warm current — Madagascar — Port Louis — Picture of Mauritius scenery — Vegetation compared with that of Fiji — Unhealthy climate — A sugar mill— " Cameroon " fishing — Observatory at Pamplemousses — Mr. C. Meldrum — Description of hurricane — Forecasting hurricanes ...... CONTENTS XII

Chapter XIV

To Ceylon : The Shadows of the Peak PAGE Voyage to Adelaide — The observatory — Mount Lofty — Picture of the scenery — Albany — Natives — The north-west monsoon — Lovely sunrises — Colombo — Temple at Kandy — Buddha's rays — Botanical garden — Ascent of Adam's Peak — Curious rainbow and Brocken figures — The shadows of the Peak ..... 241

Chapter XV

The Himalayas : Alpine Scenery To Madras — Surf boats — Calcutta — Oriental life — Meteorological office — Thunderstorm — Alipore observatory — Road to Darjeeling — Terai — Picture of the scenery — Comparison with the Alps . . . 265

Chapter XVI

In the Hills : The Burst of the Monsoon Start for Tonglu — Rhododendron forest — View of snowy range — Sunrise — Black as a protection from sun — Sandakphu — View of Mount Everest — Snow on Himalayas — Bhotens, Lepchas, and Nepaulis — Praying wheels — The burst of the south-west monsoon . . 284

Chapter XVII

Borneo : The Evolution of Kissing To Penang — Zodiacal light — Singapore — Characteristics of the Malay Archipelago — Labuan — British North Borneo Company — Aspect of Borneo — Pile dwellings — Weather aud climate of Borneo — Dyak war-dance — The evolution of kissing ..... 302

Chapter XVIII

In the Jungle : The Orang-Outang Edible birds' nests, trepang, and shark's fin — Trip to nest caves — Typical scenery of Bornean river and Bornean jungle — Buttress-rooted trees — Leeches — The orang - outang — His likeness to men — His way of carrying his young — Arrival at Gomanton caves . . . CONTENTS XIII PAGE 337 351 368 395

Chapter XIX

Gomanton : Edible Nest Caves and Upas Poison Gomanton caves — Bats and swifts — Simud Itam — Old coral reef — Simud Putih — Collection of nests — White, red, and black nests — Origin of nests — Guano from the caves — Blowpipes — Preparation of upas poison .........

Chapter XX

To Manilla : Health in the Tropics Start for Sooloo — Scenery of the island — Life on a tobacco plantation — Climate of Sooloo — Piracy and religion — Spanish administration — Voyage to Manilla — Weather generally in Malaysia — General character of Equatorial vegetation — Remittent fever — Health in the Tropics ........

Chapter XXI

In the China Seas : Typhoons Manilla Observatory — Father Faura — Weather and climate of Manilla — Hong-Kong — Typhoon warnings — To Yokohama — Baths of Miyanosta — Photography in the Tropics — Savage languages — Climate of Japan — Temples of Nikko — Japanese art — Meteorological office at Tokio — Typhoons .......

Chapter XXII

To America : A Mountain Observatory Start for San Francisco — Climate of Pacific coast — The American desert — Salt Lake City — Canons — Manitou — Ascent of Pike's Peak — Extraordinary electrical manifestations — Effects of high air — Black v. white faces ........

Chapter XXIII

Washington : Weather Forecasts Hot wave at Denver City — Chicago — Climate and anarchy — Effect of climate on American character — Signal Office at Washington — Pro- CONTENTS PAGE fessor W. Ferrel — Forecasting weather — To Liverpool — The Etruria and the Damascus . . . ■ . 410 Appendix I. On the Origin of "Trade Cumulus" . . . 425 II. Upper Wind Currents near the Equator . . . 427 III. On Meldrum's Rules for Handling Ships in Hurricanes . 430 IV. The Relation of Tropical to Extra-tropical Cyclones . 438 INDEX . ILLUSTKATIONS PHOTOGRAPHS The Ropes of Maui ...... Frontispiece I. A Coral Reef . ..... To face page 134 II. The White Terrace at Rotomahana . „ ,, 147 III. Rio Janeiro ......„„ 165 IV. Tropical Sunset ,, „ 169 V. The Midnight Sun „ „ 187 VI. Natives of West Australia , „ 244 VII. Clouds in the Himalayas ....„„ 286 VIII.

Pike's Peak, Colorado ....„„ 402 LITHOGRAPHED MAPS The Author's Routes ...... To face page 1 Great Fiji and Surrounding Islands ... ,, „ 82 North Borneo, and the Philippines . . . ,, ,,302 ENGRAVINGS Map of the Areas of Mahomedanism ..... 42 Map of the Rainless Areas of Asia and Africa . . . 43 Trade Cumulus 48 Diagram of First Tropical Afterglow 49 Diagram of Anti-twilight Arch ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Crepuscular Rays ........ 50 Fiji Comb and Pillow 84 A Fijian Ship 102 The Ve bose in Fiji 126 Map of New Zealand Hot Lakes . . . . . . 146 Fleecy Clouds near the Falkland Islands . . . . 163 Curious Appearance of the Sea under Local Showers . . 168 Bars of Cloud (Strato-cumulus). (Engraved by Whymper) . 172 Aurora in the Arctic Circle . . . . . . 207 Clouds floating actually over the Equator . . . . 218 " Table-cloth " and Cloud-bar over Cape Town . . . ' 220 Topography of Adam's Peak . . . . . . 254 Diagram of Rainbow round the Shadow . . . . 258 Sketch Map of Darjeeling District 279 Cloud trailing from the Summit of Kanchin Jinga . . 286 Clouds Setting below the Horizon . . . . . 306 Pile Dwelling, Borneo 310 Clouds over a Thunderstorm, Borneo . . . . . 313 Head-Hunting Dyaks in War Paint . . . . . 318 Black and White Edible Birds' Nests 323 Typical Buttressed Trees, Borneo . . . . . 328 Home of the Orang-Outang . . . . . . 331 Edible Bird's Nest Cave, Gomanton (Exterior) . . . 335 Do. do.

(Interior) . . . 340 Volcano of Abayon before and after Typhoon . . . 369 Origin of Trade Cumulus ....... 425 A Theoretical Hurricane ....... 430 A Real Hurricane ........ F> J AUTHOR'S CHART OF THE WORLD SHEWING THE ROUTES.

Chapter I In Canada

: THE MUSIC OF NIAGARA In November 1864 I was ordered, on promotion, to join the 4th Battalion of the 60th Rifles, then quartered in Canada. Accordingly on the 17th of that month I embarked at Liverpool on board the Damascus, a small Mediterranean boat of only about 870 tons register, perfectly safe, but totally unfit to make the winter trip across the Atlantic with any comfort to her passengers. The weather which we experienced was typical of the Atlantic at that season ; westerly gales of varying strength, following each other in quick succession, and the temperature rising or falling slightly, according to whether the wind came a little more from the south, or a little more from the north of west. One night the curious appearance called " St. Elmo's fires " or " Corposants " was observed, as little balls of electric glow dancing at the end of the yard-arms.

These lights are considered a sign, or rather an accom paniment of hard weather, and on this occasion appeared in the intervals of cold hail showers during a north-west gale. B CHAP. 2 The sea was always high, and when it rolled in long mountainous masses, the appearance of the ocean as seen from the tops of the waves resembled that of an undulating country. On one of these occasions we had simply to lie to, off our course, and keep the ship's head to the sea ; but no harm was done, beyond the loss of a small portion of the bulwarks, and the smashing of the housing of a boat. By the thirteenth day the Damascus arrived at the Banks of Newfoundland, and passed into the cold water and dense fog of the Arctic current. There was no floating ice now, as the bergs were held fast by the frost in Greenland ; but still the water was so cold that the air was thick with fog.

The layer of fog is sometimes so thin that while on deck you can scarcely see the ship's length ahead ; at the mast head you find a hazy sun shining over a sea of mist. The weather was also quite different from what had been previously experienced, for we were now outside the course of the westerly gales, and beginning to feel the influence of the American continent. A little later on, the ice-blink was seen over Cape Race, more than fifty miles distant, though the land itself was of course invisible. The whiteness of light reflected from snow or ice gives a peculiar colour and illumination to the clouds that lie over the frozen surface, quite different to the ordinary light reflected from sea or land ; so that by day the sailor gets as good an evidence of his approach to land as would be afforded by a mountain whose top was as high as the clouds.

From the edge of the Banks to Portland in the State of Maine nothing but calm weather was experi enced, though the ship did not arrive at Portland till the nineteenth day after leaving Liverpool. This was a very long passage even for those days. We were introduced on landing to a very charac teristic institution of the United States. The custom house was swarming with young and inexperienced men, for whom there was little or nothing to do. This was explained by the fact that President Lincoln had just been returned for a second term of office, and an unusually large number of fresh appointments had been made. It was said that in a few months they would all be weeded out till the necessary numbers only were left. Montreal was reached shortly before Christmas ; it was then cold, and the navigation of the St. Lawrence had been closed for nearly a month, but no snow lay on the ground.

Just before New Year snow began to fall in earnest, and no ground was seen again till the middle of March. There was not a single thaw, such as does so much harm in St. Petersburg, during the whole winter. Sometimes the thermometer rose to nearly 20° F., but never to the freezing point ; while during January and February the temperature was usually from about zero to 10° F. The character of the snow was remarkable and quite unlike what one sees in England. The flakes were usually small, six-sided plates, the sides a little rounded so as to look like the flattened petal of a CHAT. 4 flower. They were so dry that they would not bind, — you could not make a snowball in all Canada — and drove in under the chinks of the windows like sand. The French habitants call this poudre, a word which exactly describes the character of Canadian snow.

One day the snow fell in long thin hexagonal needles of dry ice, which were so uncommon that everybody remarked them. There was no very peculiar weather at the time, so that it is difficult to assign any reason for this formation. In England the commonest flake is made of a tree of similar needles, tacked together into a symmetrical form, and flat plates of ice are not at all commonly observed. On the whole, weather did not change much from day to day during the winter. The sky was generally blue overhead, but the sun never had an overpowering glare in the town owing to a large amount of haze in the air. The horizon was always gray and obscure, though one very rarely saw much true cloud. The total snowfall was not very large, but it is somewhat difficult to estimate the amount, for the wind drives a great deal from the open plains into the woods and hollows.

At the end of the winter the depth of snow on the flat ground did not exceed three or four feet, though of course many of the railway cuttings were filled level with the ground. All traffic has of course to be carried on in sleighs, and for some reason the passage of the runners works a road into undulations like a series of solidified waves. The motion of driving over these is very unpleasant, and I have known people to be sick from the uneasy shiplike motion of these cahots. On the other hand, nothing is more exhilarating than driving in a good sleigh over a smooth road, with the tinkling bells of the horses properly harmonised, and in company with a pretty Canadian girl, through the clear, dry, cold air of an American winter. The rivers do not freeze over with a smooth surface like a pond ; the tide and current effectually prevent this, but the mass of floating ice gradually gets jammed and then frozen together.

The pressure tilts many of the flat pieces of ice up more or less on end, and the whole surface is rough like the ground over a highly-contorted slaty rock with thin laminae. A few air-holes always remain open, and some parts are much stronger than others. The whole is called an "ice bridge." There was one opposite Montreal more than two miles long, where, the rough surface had been smoothed, and bushes stuck in the ice on either side of the path to guide travellers by night or after snow. These bridges are very dangerous for troops ; the blow of several hundred men marching in step is very severe, and about fifty years ago a great many men in one regiment were drowned near Toronto. Winter is the gay season in Canada : everybody is in town then, business is slack owing to the stoppage of navigation, and sleighing parties, dances, theatricals, and picnics are the order of the day.

There was a large garrison in Montreal during the winter of 1864 65, for the British force in North America had just been very much strengthened owing to a difficulty CHAr. with the United States about the affair of the Trent. What with five battalions of infantry and the usual proportion of staff, artillery, and engineers, we had a very gay and pleasant time of it. Our own work was very light in that season ; it was perfectly certain that no raid could be made on Canadian territory during the winter months, and the weather was sometimes so severe that we had to inspect the men in their barrack -rooms. In fine weather the troops went out marching on snow shoes, and with a little practice could skirmish across country far quicker than in ordinary boots. The only diffi culty was that in close order the shuffling of the shoes over the snow made so much noise it was a little troublesome to get one's orders heard.

March ing in very cold weather was actually dangerous. On the coldest day of the whole winter, when a brisk north-westerly gale blew from over the frozen con tinent, when the mercury fell to thirty degrees below zero, and my own battalion was very prudently paraded in its own rooms, the commander of another regiment actually took his men out to practise on snow shoes. No less than 147 were frost-bitten out of a total of 221, and it was said that several of the bandsmen lost their fingers. Nearly all the mischief was done in a few minutes, when the men had got out of the town and took off their sealskin mits to tie on the snow shoes. The commanding officer should have known better, as he had been in the country before. A court of inquiry sat on the occurrence, but of course its report was not published.

Anyhow, the affair was hushed up, though curiously enough two or three years afterwards I read a somewhat garbled account of the business in an obscure paper from the south of Ireland. These cold snaps of weather that come with a north westerly wind are locally known as "blizzards." Up country they are more dangerous than in Montreal or Quebec, and even the hardy voyageur sometimes falls a victim to the severity of the weather. The danger comes from the piercing wind which chills the body, and the driving blinding snow which hides the path of the traveller. If wood cannot be found, nature can only resist the cold for a certain number of hours ; and the man must be frozen to death if no shelter can be reached. A very curious circumstance attends these deaths, for in many cases the victim is found nearly naked.

When the body is almost reduced to an icicle, after desperate efforts to keep warm, only a very little blood continues to circulate languidly through the head. The nutrition of the brain is then'so impaired that the mind wanders in delirium, and the singular delusion of a sensation of oppressive heat supervenes. Under the influence of this fancy the victim begins to strip off his clothes, and so hastens the fatal end. A frostbite is easily recognised by the part turning white and becoming hard. The person bitten is usually entirely ignorant of the fact, as there is a total absence of pain ; so it is an invariable custom if you see anybody frost-bitten to tell him so, or help him to rub the affected part with snow. If the bite CHAP. is taken in time there is not much harm done, though the part smarts when it is coming to, remains red and swollen for a short time, and is always more liable to be bitten again than another part of the body.

In extreme cases, when the flesh is thawed, it swells enormously, rises in huge horrible -looking blisters, and gives intense pain. If the bitten part turns black in a day or two all is over with it, for the flesh is rotting, and nothing remains but amputation. Fever often supervenes at this stage ; and during the Napoleonic wars at the commencement of this century the French lost thousands of men in Germany ivorajievre de congelation. It is popularly believed that rubbing with snow is the only remedy, but this is quite a fallacy. A piece of fur is equally efficacious, and does not rub the skin off, as snow or ice are apt to do. The virtue of snow lies in the cold water produced when it melts, as this moderates the violence of the reaction in the flesh, and so far diminishes the danger of mortification.

A curious effect of dry cold is the constant crack ling of clothes from the discharge of electricity. As you put your things off or on, anything of silk or flannel crackles, and if the candles are out you see a faint electric glow of light. When you do your hair a whole series of little cracks announce the disruptive discharge of electricity from the teeth of the comb. A common amusement after dinner is to set one of the party on four tumblers, rub him down two or three times with a bit of fur, and then see him light IN CANADA I 9 the gas by putting his finger to the orifice of the burner. Sometimes, even by shuffling hard across a room, sufficient electricity may be developed to light gas without the insulation of glass tumblers. The original source of the electricity is of course friction in every case, and for the same amount of motion, as much electricity is generated in England as in Canada.

The difference in result is due to a thin varnish of con densed vapour which coats everything in England, and conducts the electricity instantly down to the earth. There is no such varnish in the extreme dry ness of a Canadian winter, so the electricity rushes to any point from which to discharge itself. Otherwise, there is little atmospheric electricity in Montreal ; thunderstorms are unknown in winter, and I only saw one aurora borealis in Canada. The climate of Montreal has developed a distinctive architecture in the houses. The roofs are steep pitched, and covered with tinned iron, and the overhanging eave so arranged that snow is shot of its own weight clear of the side-walks, and as near as possible into the gutter between the side-walk and carriage-way. Inside the houses you are mostly struck by the absence of fire places, and by' the universal use of double windows.

In the best houses a flat colorifier, filled with hot water, that circulates round the house from a boiler in the base ment, replaces an open fire. In barracks and com moner houses the long iron flue from a stove is led as far as possible through the building before it goes into the chimney. Wood is more generally used than coal, CHAP. and a newcomer is struck with the quantity of steam which is given off by burning wood. Dripping pans have often to be placed under joints in the flues to collect the dirty water which condenses in the pipes. In the middle of March I took six weeks' leave, and ran through from Montreal to New York, some 700 miles nearly due south, in about thirty hours. The rapid change from a tropical to an arctic climate, as you ascend a mountain, has often been described.

Here the passage was, in a few hours, from an arctic to an Italian climate by change of latitude. We left Montreal all white, the snow in the cuttings being higher than the railway carriages. We traversed Vermont and Connecticut in various stages of slush and thaw. We arrived in New York to find spring budding forth in a genial climate and a bright sun. During this trip to the United States I had the good fortune to be present as a spectator at the battles round Petersburg, in Virginia, which led to the capitulation of that city, and the final surrender of the Confederate army under General Lee. Fur nished with passes and good introductions to General Hunt, the Chief of Artillery of the Army of the Potomac, we went by steamer from Washington to a landing on the Appomattox river, a few miles in rear of the headquarters of the army.