154 



THUNDER-BOLT. 



May 10th. Beautiful morning. The river 

 rapidly decreasing. Passed a small village 

 called Garapata, agreeably situated, and in 

 much better order than St. Bartholomew's. 

 At sunset, stopped to sleep on the beach, 

 and no sooner had I got my bed up, the 

 night promising fair, than the wind shifted, 

 and it commenced raining. I immediately 

 got my things on board, and prepared for 

 a tempestuous night. The musquitoes made 

 their appearance in thousands. Suddenly a 

 most tremendous thunder-storm commenced, 

 accompanied with a vast quantity of forked 

 lightning. One thunder-bolt fell within 

 fifteen yards of us, and we thought it had 

 struck the boat, but it proved to have fallen 

 on an adjacent bank, and carried away part 

 of it. To complete our misery, we had for- 

 gotten to see if the man whose duty it was 

 to keep the well dry, was at his post: it 

 proved that he was not ; and in conse- 

 quence our sleeping-place was inundated. 



