As a general rule, it is stated that the natural region of clouds is a stratum of the atmosphere
lying between the level of the first thousand feet, and that of one removed about ten thousand feet above it. Of course it is not supposed but that clouds are occasionally found on both sides of the bounds here assigned to them; the mist occupies the lowest valleys, while, on the other hand, long after the aëronaut has attained the height of ten thousand feet, some faint indications of clouds may still be seen partially obscuring the dark blue vault above him. As he continues to ascend, the blue of the sky increases in intensity; and should a layer of clouds shut out all view of the earth, “above and all around him extends a firmament dyed in purple of the intensest hue; and from the apparent regularity of the horizontal plane on which it rests, bearing the resemblance of a large inverted bowl of dark blue porcelain standing upon a rich Mosaic floor or tesselated pavement. Ascending still higher, the colour of the sky, especially about the zenith, is to be compared with the deepest shade of Prussian blue.”
CHAPTER IV.
on hail—the hail-storms of france—disastrous effects of hail—the hail-storms of south america—their surprising effects—origin and nature of hail—periodical falls of hail—hail clouds—hailstones—their various forms—extraordinary size of hailstones.
As hail seems to be nothing more than frozen rain, it is necessary to collect a few particulars respecting it in this place.
Great Britain is essentially a rain country; but there are some parts of the world which have obtained the unhappy distinction of being hail countries:
such, for example, as some of the most beautiful provinces of France, which are frequently devastated by hail-storms. One of the most tremendous hail-storms on record is that which occurred in that country in July 1788. This fearful storm was ushered in by a dreadful and almost total darkness which suddenly overspread the whole country. In a single hour the whole face of nature was so entirely changed, that no person who had slept during the tempest could have believed himself in the same part of the world when he awoke. Instead of the smiling bloom of summer, and the rich prospects of a forward autumn, which were just before spread over the face of that fertile and beautiful country, it now presented the dreary aspect of an arctic winter. The soil was changed into a morass; the standing corn beaten into a quagmire; the vines were broken to pieces, and their branches bruised in the same manner; the fruit-trees of every kind were demolished, and the hail lay unmelted in heaps like rocks of solid ice. Even the robust forest trees were incapable of withstanding the fury of the tempest; and a large wood of chesnut trees, in particular, was so much damaged, that it presented, after the storm,
little more than bare and naked trunks. The vines were so miserably hacked and battered, that four years were estimated as the shortest period in which they could become again in any degree productive. Of the sixty-six parishes included in the district of Pontoise, forty-three were entirely desolated; while, of the remaining twenty-three, some lost two-thirds, and others above half their harvest.