Are well-known phenomena in the Levant , and are supposed to be produced by whirlwinds. A dense, black, funnel-shaped cloud is seen depending from the sky, and sometimes moving rapidly over the sea, from which at times a similar cone ascends to meet the upper one. Where they unite, the column may be three or four feet thick; and when they break, torrents of water descend. The word occurs in Psalm 42:7 , where, however, the psalmist probably alludes to cataracts of water.