TERRIFIC THUNDER-STORM. 41 



built on the top of a very dense green tree, with thorns 

 on the fish-hook principle. With much difficulty I cut 

 my way to the large thorny branch on which the nest 

 was built, and, to proceed further being impossible, 

 from the denseness of the thorns, I cut through this 

 branch with my knife, and by dragging it down I got 

 hold of the eggs, which were the size and shape of a 

 turkey's, and the color of a buzzard's egg. 



On the forenoon of the 19th we were visited by a 

 most terrific storm. The thunder was the most appall- 

 ing I had ever heard, resembling the simultaneous dis- 

 charge of a thousand pieces of artillery : it burst close 

 over my head with a report so sudden and tremendous 

 that I involuntarily trembled, and the sweat ran down 

 my brow. At other times the thunder rumbled on ev- 

 ery side, and rolled away with a long-protracted sound, 

 which had not died before fresh explosions burst above 

 and around me. The lightning was so vivid that it 

 pained my eyes ; it seemed so near, that I fancied ev- 

 ery moment it must strike the wagons, which would 

 certainly have proved extremely inconvenient, as I had 

 three hundred pounds of gunpowder stowed in one of 

 them beneath my bed. About sundown the storm had 

 passed away, having exquisitely pvirified the atmos 

 phere, while the grateful earth and fragrant forest emit- 

 ted a perfume of overpowering sweetness. I then saun- 

 tered out with my rifle toward where the oxen were 

 grazing, and, falling in with a herd of brindled gnoos, 

 I shot a couple of shaggy old fellows, firing right and 

 left. The storm set in again about 10 P.M. with thun- 

 der and lightning, which continued throughout the 

 greater part of the night 



