A THUNDEK-STOKM. 267 



-down as if the flood-gates of heaven had been opened, 

 accompanied by the loudest thunder and most dazzling 

 lightning. There is nothing that more powerfully impresses 

 man with the omnipotent power of the Creator, or with his 

 own utter insignificance, than being placed alone, unpro- 

 tected from the warring elements, listening to the dis- 

 memberment of limbs from the parent tree-trunks by the 

 fury of the blast, or the scathing power of the electric 

 fluid. All my efforts to keep a good fire were futile sleep 

 was out of the question while the incessant attacks of 

 the mosquitoes made me restless and irritable. No sick 

 man or storm-tossed mariner ever more ardently longed 

 for break of day. The night appeared endless, and doubts 

 of whether the sun had not been delayed in his course, or 

 taken his departure to gladden with his rays the inhabitants 

 of other planets, intruded themselves. At last, faint lines 

 of light glimmered in the east, foretelling the departure of 

 darkness, and with greater satisfaction than I ever 

 previously experienced, I rose from my wet and uncom- 

 fortable resting-place. To seek my lost route was my first 

 endeavour, and for more than an hour I wandered without 

 success. At last, when almost yielding to despair, I struck 

 the margin of the lake I had been shooting on the evening 

 before ; and what a beautiful, enthralling scene lay before 

 me ! The placid water only rippled where the wild duck 

 sported, or the voracious fish pursued to the surface their 

 destined prey ; while the shadow of each tree that grew 

 near the margin was so distinctly reflected, that the 

 minutest limb or twig could be traced with perfect 

 precision. 



