A FREAK OF FATE

Evening Star, Issue 21099, 11 May 1932, Page 5

A FREAK OF FATE

ISLANDS IN THE,SKY Many persons cannot enter a cave or a tunnel without a shuddering fear that the roof may fall in upon them. _ They know that anything of the kind is not in the least likely, that the roof is part of the solid earth, and that, barring earthquakes, it should stand for' ages' to come. Yet the fear remains, and they feel that a weight has been lifted when they come out, writes Thomas Dunbabin, in the Sydney ‘ Daily' Telegraph.’ Yet these same persons will walk calmly abroad with lakes _ and freshwater seas, floating mountains, and vast drifting islands hanging over their heads, and never give the things a thought. Millions of tons of water are suspended above them, and at the most they have only the defence of a ; flimsy umbrella. It is strange how little attention wo give to the landscapes (or should it be seascapes) of the sky. _ Vast mountain ranges of the most varied and fantastic shapes are built up, melt away, and are formed again. Islands and continents, of cloud, varying from mere wisps of mist to huge masses spread out over hundreds of thousands or millions of square miles, appear- and disappear, fade away, or merge into one another, or pour down mighty rivers to the surface of the earth. And all that they receive usually is a cursory glance from those who wonder whether it is going to rain. 'Some of the great masses of cumulus cloud, or thunderheads seen rising from the horizon on thujidery days in summer may be 15,000 ft or 16,000 ft from base to summit—the height of Mont Blanc above the sea. It is hard to realise what would happen if the whole mass of water contained in some of these cloud masses came down on the earth at once. Occasionally wo have what is called a cloudburst. A sheet of water descends and sweeps all before, it. Yet these are local and partial happenings. Water will proverbially not run- up hill. Yet every day the sun draws mighty rivers of water, by evaporation, into the upper air. There is a sea of fresh water in ■ the sky which contains as much water on any given day as ono of the smaller seas on the earth’s surface. The water is heavier than air, but until it condenses into water-drops it will not fall to the earth. And, happily for us, it condenses only a little at a time. An inch of rain means the fall of 100 tons of water on an acre of ground, but even that inch takes a considerable time to fall. It is quite an exceptional rainstorm when an inch falls in an hour. In addition to water vapour, the clouds carry, in the aggregate, huge masses of earthy matter in the form of minute particles of dust. Most of the dust is derived from the surface of the earth. Some of it may come from the interior of the earth, and some from far beyond the limits of our globe. After the great eruption of Krakatoa, in August, 1883, clouds of fine dust were thrown out from the volcano, and, carried high into the upper air, drifted round and round the world for a couple of years.