368 AUDUBON 



quids from one cheek to the other, and our pilot having 

 covered himself with his oil jacket, we followed his ex- 

 ample. " Blow, sweet breeze," cried he at the tiller, and 

 " we '11 reach the land before the blast overtakes us, for, 

 gentlemen, it is a furious cloud yon." 



A furious cloud indeed was the one which now, like an 

 eagle on outstretched wings, approached so swiftly that 

 one might have deemed it in haste to destroy us. We 

 were not more than a cable's length from the shore, when, 

 with an imperative voice, the pilot calmly said to us, " Sit 

 quite still, gentlemen, for I should not like to lose you 

 overboard just now ; the boat can't upset, my word for that, 

 if you will but sit still — Here we have it !" 



Reader, persons who have never witnessed a hurricane, 

 such as not unfrequently desolates the sultry climates of 

 the South, can scarcely form an idea of their terrific gran- 

 deur. 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 everything by the roots, as it were, with the careless 

 ease of the experienced 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, weep- 

 ing and disconsolate, is left bereaved of her beauteous off- 

 spring. In some instances, even a full century is required 

 before, with all her powerful energies, she can repair her 

 loss. The planter has not only lost his mansion, 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 everywhere 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, 



