Chapter XX

_If you see a Cloud rise against the Wind or side Wind, when that Cloud comes up to you, the Wind will blow the same Way that the Cloud came. And the same Rule holds of a clear Place, when all the Sky is equally thick, except one clear Edge._

THIS seems to arise from hence, that Wind being nothing more than Air in motion, the Effects of it first discover themselves above, and actually drive such Clouds before them. This was long ago observed by _Pliny_. When Clouds, says he, float about in a serene Sky, from whatever Quarter they come, you may expect Winds. If they are collected together in one Place, they will be dispersed by the approach of the Sun. If these Clouds come from the North East, they denote Winds; if from the South great Rains. But let them come from what Quarter they will, if you see them driving thus about Sunset, they are sure signs of an approaching Tempest.

IF the Clouds look dusky, or of a tarnish silver Colour, and move very slowly, it is a Sign of Hail. But to speak more plainly, those very Clouds are laden with Hail, which if there be a Mixture of Blue in the Clouds will be small, but if very yellow, large. Small scattering Clouds that fly very high, especially, from the South West, denote Whirlwinds. The shooting of fallen Stars through them, is a Sign of Thunder. We meet with many Observations of this sort in our old Writers on Husbandry, and we have abundance of Proverbs relating to this Subject which are worth observing, and the rather, because most of them are not peculiar to our Language only, but common to us with many of our Neighbours. It is the Remark of Lord _Bacon_, and a very judicious Remark too, that Proverbs are the Philosophy of the common People, that is to say, they are trite Remarks founded in Truth, and fitted for Memory. I must confess that there are some of them that seem either false, or of no great Consequence, but then I am apt to suspect, that by various Accidents we have lost their true Meaning, or else, that in length of Time, they have been altered and corrupted, till they have little or no meaning at all.

I cannot help taking Notice in Regard to the Rule before us, that Captain _Dampier_ tells us in the _East-Indies_, they have always Notice of a Tuffoon by the Skies being first clear and calm, and then a small white Cloud hanging precisely in the Point from whence the Storm comes, where he observes that it remains sometimes twelve Hours or more, and adds, that as soon as it begins to move, the Wind presently follows it. When Sir _John Bury_, who died an _English_ Admiral, had the Command of a small Frigate in the _West-Indies_, he escaped a Hurricane in the _Leward_ Islands by taking the Advice of a poor Negro, who shewed him a small white Cloud at a Distance, and assured him that when it came to the _Zenith_, the Hurricane would infallibly begin, as indeed it did.