256 



A STORM. 



der it necessary to work them by candle 

 light. 



One day, whilst I was superintending the 

 excavation then making, the sky suddenly 

 became obscure ; a dense black cloud ap- 

 proached, and rested almost in a line with 

 the brow of the hill where I was seated ; 

 in an instant it discharged a vivid flash 

 of forked lightning, which, darting into the 

 plain beneath, struck a large ox and kill- 

 ed it on the spot; the thunder rolled along 

 the base of the hills in solemn grandeur, 

 each peal being reverberated by the hol- 

 lows of the mountains, and resounding most 

 powerfully along the chain of hills which 

 extended far east and west, whilst the hail 

 and rain fell in torrents. On examining 

 the body of the dead animal, after the 

 abatement of the storm, no mark could be 

 discovered where the electrical matter had 

 entered or escaped. 



