RETURN ROUND CAPE HORN. 



m 



months before, had lain motionless on the smooth 

 surface of the bay, were now rolling and pitching, 

 With their cables stretched out to sea-ward ; while 

 the boats that used to skim along from the shore 

 to the vessels at anchor, were seen splashing 

 through the waves under a reefed sail, or 

 struggling hard with their oars to avoid being 

 driven into the surf, which was breaking and 

 roaring furiously along the coast. The flags that 

 were wont to lie idly asleep for weeks together, by 

 the sides of the masts on the batteries, now stood 

 stiffly out in the storm. Innumerable sea-birds 

 continued during all the day, wheeling and 

 screaming round the rock on which the town stood, 

 as if in terror at this sudden change. The dust of 

 six months' hot weather, raised into high pyramids, 

 was forced by furious gusts of wind into the inner- 

 most corners of the houses. Long before sunset, 

 it seemed as if the day had closed, owing to the 

 darkness caused by the dust in the air, and to the 

 sky being overcast in every part by unbroken 

 masses of watery clouds. 



Presently lightning was observed amongst the 

 hills : followed shortly afterwards by a storm, ex- 

 ceeding in violence any which I had ever met with 

 before in other parts of the world. During eight 

 hours, deluges of rain never ceased pouring down 

 for a moment ; the steep streets of the town soon 

 became the channels of streams of such magnitude, 

 as to sweep away large stones : rendering it every- 

 where dangerous and in some places quite impos- 

 sible to pass. The rain found its way through the 

 roofs, and drenched every part of the houses ; the 

 deep rumbling noise of the torrents in the streets 

 was never interrupted ; the deafening loudness of 



the thunder became exceedingly distracting ; while 

 flashes of forked lightning, playing in the most 

 brilliant manner, without ceasing, from the zenith 

 to the horizon, on all sides, and clinging, as it were 

 to the rock, were very beautiful, and sometimes 

 not a little terrific. I never before witnessed such 

 a night. 



As the next day broke, the rain and its accom- 

 paniments ceased. During all the morning, there 

 was a dead calm, with the air so sultry, that it was 

 painful to breathe in it. Though the sky remained 

 overcast, the sun had power to raise up from the 

 drenched ground clouds of dense steam, which 

 covered the whole plain, as far as the base of the 

 mountains. 



No very violent rain fell after this furious burst 

 till the evening of the 4th of June, when the 

 periodical wet season set in. During the inter- 

 mediate mornings, it was generally clear and 

 fair ; but about half past three or four, on each 

 of these days, the sky became suddenly overcast, 

 and at five o'clock the rain began ; though it 

 was seldom before eight o'clock that it fell in 

 the torrents I have described, or that the thunder 

 and lightning commenced with great violence. 



After such warning as we had received on the 

 first of the month we were glad to imitate the ex- 

 ample of the inhabitants, and take our departure 

 as soon as possible. Accordingly on the 15th of 

 June, all our business being concluded, we sailed 

 from San Bias ; and, after a voyage round Cape 

 Horn, of nearly eight thousand miles, anchored in 

 Rio de Janeiro on the 12th of September 1822 ; 

 having been at sea three months without seeing 

 land. 



