150 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



south, can scarcely form an idea of their terrific grandeur. 

 One would think that, not content with laying waste all on 

 land, it must needs sweep the waters of the shallows quite 

 dry, to quench its thirst. No respite for an instant does it 

 afford to the objects within the reach of its furious current. 

 Like the scythe of the destroying angel, it cuts every thing 

 by the roots, as it were, with the careless ease of the expe- 

 rienced mower. Each of its revolving sweeps collects a heap 

 that might be likened to the full sheaf which the husbandman 

 flings by his side. On it goes with a wildness and fury that 

 are indescribable ; and when at last its frightful blasts have 

 ceased, Nature, weeping and disconsolate, is left bereaved of 

 her beauteous offspring. In some instances, even a full cen- 

 tury is required, before, with all her powerful energies, she 

 can repair her loss. The planter has not only lost his man- 

 sion, his crops, and his flocks, but he has to clear his lands 

 anew, covered and entangled as they are with the trunks and 

 branches of trees that are every where strewn. The bark 

 overtaken by the storm, is cast on the lee-shore, and if any 

 are left to witness the fatal results, they are the " wreckers" 

 alone, who, with inward delight, gaze upon the melancholy 

 spectacle. 



Our light bark shivered like a leaf the instant the blast 

 reached her sides. We thought she had gone over ; but the 

 next instant she was on the shore. And now in contempla- 

 tion of the sublime and awful storm, I gazed around me. The 

 waters drifted like snow ; the tough mangroves hid their tops 

 amid their roots, and the loud roaring of the waves driven 

 among them, blended with the howl of the tempest. It was 

 not rain that fell ; the masses of water flew in a horizontal 

 direction, and where a part of my body was exposed, I felt 

 as if a smart blow had been given me on it. But enough ! 

 in half an hour it was over. The pure blue sky once more 

 embellished the heavens, and although it was now quite night, 

 we considered our situation a good one. 



