Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/350

322 We saw large trees floating, which had been detached from the low islands by the waves. One of those trees adhering to the prow of our ship, for some time retarded her motion.

8th. At five o'clock P.M. being upon the Equator, in 135° 4′ E. long. we saw a very considerable water-spout, forming in the south-west, at the distance of about 2,000 toises: although the air about us was very tranquil, the waves were foaming with agitation, at the place where the water-spout originated, over which a very small cloud hovered, apparently at the distance of a few feet. This phœnomenon was in the form of two very elongated cones, joined at their summits, the base of one being upon the sea, and that of the other lost in a very thick cloud.

The clouds appeared to me to be agitated by a whirlwind, which having held a great quantity of water suspended, discharged it again in torrents. Perhaps all water-spouts are formed in this manner. If, as some natural philosophers alledge, a water-spout carried up the sea-water, in a great body, it ought to be as salt in the moment of its descent, as in that of its ascent, which does not seem to accord with observation. A person, worthy of credit, who saw two water-spouts fall upon a vessel, assured me that they discharged fresh