Page 703 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CYCLONE.

lunt, recognising the meteoric heralds of danger, had
Bbegun to regret his obstinacy. He saw that a hurricane
was approaching.
Along the south coast of the Australian continent,
though the usual westerly winds and gales of the highest
latitudes prevail during the greater portion of the year, hur-
ricanes are not infrequent. Gales commence at NW with a
low barometer, increasing at W and SW, and gradually veer-
ing to the south. True cyclones occur at New Zealand. The
log of the Adelaide for 29th February, 1870, describes one
which travelled at the rate of ten miles an hour, and had all
the veerings, calm centre, etc., of a true tropical hurricane.
Now a cyclone occurring off the west coast of New Zealand
would travel from the New Hebrides, where such storms
are hideously frequent, and envelop Norfolk Island, pass-
ing directly across the track of vessels coming from South
America to Sydney. It was one of these rotatory storms, an
escaped tempest of the tropics, which threatened the Lady
Franklin.
The ominous calm which had brooded over the island
during the day had given place to a smart breeze from the
north-east, and though the schooner had been sheltered

0 For the Term of His Natural Life