The tornado in East Kansas--In Southeast Missouri--Great damage in Illinois--Water-spout at Metropolis--Many distinct whirlwinds--Effect of forest and prairie fires--Tornado of Charleston, 1761--Tornadoes at Natchez, 1840 and 1842--The Marshfield storm, 1880--Remarkably small loss of life in tornadoes--Tornadoes in foreign lands 114 CHAPTER VIII. TROPICAL CYCLONES. Cyclones on our eastern borders--The Nova Scotia cyclone--St. Thomas cyclone and earthquake, 1837--Cyclone of 1867--Barbadoes storm, 1831--Great storm of 1780--Terrible cyclones and storm waves of India--Typhoons in the China seas 141 CHAPTER IX. PERILS OF THE SEA. Songs of the sea--The ocean always admired--Its treasures and dangers--Man’s greed a source of disaster--Criminal disregard of life--Terrible fatalities in leaky ships--The Arctic seas--The ship _Rufus_ 159 CHAPTER X. LIFE-SAVING MEASURES. Great storm of 1703--Humaneness and inhumanity--Diabolical wreckers--Hovellers--Desperate struggles without a life-boat illustrated by Dickens--The life-boat invented--Its usefulness--Lighthouses and fog-bells 179 CHAPTER XI. GREAT SAMOAN HURRICANE. Germany and Samoa--Naboth’s vineyard--War breaks out--The assembled navy--Situation of the harbor--The hurricane--Fears of the natives--Vessels dragging anchors--Sudden wreck of the _Eber_--Magnanimous natives--The _Adler_ overturned--Struggle of the _Nipsic_--Fouled by the _Olga_, and run ashore--Crew rescued by the natives--The _Vandalia_ helpless--Bold feat of the _Calliope_ cheered--_Vandalia_ stranded--Many Drowned--At the last gasp--The _Trenton_ drifts upon them--Defiance of the storm--The flag triumphant 195 CHAPTER XII. ELECTRIC STORMS. Byron’s fire--Myths of the lightning--Causes of thunder storms--Strange freaks of the lightning--Numerous fatalities--Some curious cases--A lightning stroke a Divine favor--Thunder--Peculiar incidents--Lightning little to be feared--Foolish precautions--A “dysentery conductor” wanted--St. Elmo’s fire--Electric halos--Their part in history--The aurora--Popular myths--Aurora described 220 CHAPTER XIII. RAIN, HAIL AND SNOW. Clouds and cloud shapes--The storm changes national destinies--Cloud halos--Specter of the Brocken--The “beautiful rain"--Amount of rainfall--Snow--Its ravages--Remarkable showers of hail--Prodigies 246 CHAPTER XIV. FLOODS IN THE SOUTH.