Note 234 — A JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA IN 1497-99. (continued 2)
Ernest Georg Ravenstein translation
The author here evidently refers to tornadoes or violent gusts of wind peculiar to the west coast of Africa, and more frequent at the beginning and termination of the rainy season. They generally blow off shore, their approach being indicated by an arch of clouds, from which lightning and thunder constantly proceed. At Sierra Leone the rainy season begins at the end of April (see Africa Pilot, 1893, Part II, p. 10).