Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/110

102 "wind-gall," or "wind-dog." When the sun suits, and a little; fragment of rainbow forms at the side of the cloud, the whole is called a "boar's head." I have no doubt that the little bit of shiny bow on the side of the knobby cloud has suggested the idea of a boar's tusk.

In mythology and folk-lore all these phases of rocky structure are naturally combined and confused, for they all occur together during thunderstorms. The rocky cavernous masses of cloud, the small heads of condensed vapour, and the hairy structure in front of ominous gloom, are all combined in folk's minds, till cloudland is peopled with hairy monsters and many-headed dragons.

Here is an extract from some Chinese historical records nearly three hundred years ago:—

"A.D. 1605. A couple of dragons fought at Whampoa and tore up a large tree, and demolished several tens of houses.

"A.D. 1608, 4th moon. A gyrating dragon was seen over the decorated summit of a pagoda; all around were clouds and fog, the tail only of the dragon was visible; in the space of eating a meal it went away, leaving the marks of its claws on the pagoda."

These manifestly refer to the long narrow funnel, or tail-shaped cloud, which constitutes the spout of a tornado or whirlwind.

Even in our own time the idea of monsters embracing the heavens and fighting with the sun strikes many minds. The following extract is from a charming book by a London barrister published about ten years ago. At page 46 we find the following;—

"October 4th, 1880. Wind E.S.E. At midday in long. 25° 1' W. lat. 10° 32' N.; distance made this day 152 miles. During the day the wind came round till it was quite aft. The glass fell rather suddenly—more than a tenth in a hw hours. In the evening there was a wild appearance of the sky, slight squalls of wind and rain, and signs of worse weather coming; then followed a magnificent sunset, ominous of a storm, and a calm for a while.

"So threatening was the appearance of the heavens to windward that all hands stayed on deck to see what was coming. Right aft we perceived an inky mass of cloud rising from the horizon. It had huge rugged black streaks diverging from it in all directions like the