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 purified 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 fightning, ■v^hich continued ihroHgi>out the 

 greater part of Ihe night . 



