94 MONSOON STORM. 



a blade of verdure is to be seen except in the beds 

 of rivers, where the last pools of water seem about 

 to evaporate, and leave the land under the dominion 

 of perpetual sterility. Man and beast pant for 

 fresh air and cool water ; but no cool breeze comes. 

 A blast, as if from the mouth of a furnace, greets 

 the burning cheek ; no blessed drops descend ; the 

 sky is clear as a mirror, without a single cloud to 

 mitigate the intensity of the sun's withering rays. 

 At last, on some happy morning, small clouds are 

 seen on the horizon. They may be no bigger than 

 a man's hand, but they are blessed harbingers of 

 rain. To those who know not what is coming, 



o" 



there seems at first no improvement on the previous 

 sultry calms. There is a sense of suffocating heat 

 in the atmosphere ; a thin haze creeps over the sky, 

 but it scarcely affects the broad glare of the sun. 



At length the sky begins to change. The 

 horizon becomes black. Great masses of dark 

 clouds rise out of the sea. Fitful gusts of wind 

 begin to blow, and as suddenly to cease ; and these 

 signs of coming tempest keep dallying with each 

 other, as if to tantalize the expectant creation. The 

 lower part of the sky becomes deep red, the 

 gathering clouds spread over the heavens, and a 

 deep gloom is cast upon the earth and sea. 



And now the storm breaks forth. The violent 

 gusts swell into a continuous, furious gale. Rain 

 falls, not in drops, but in broad sheets. The black 

 sea is crested with white foam, which is quickly 



