INTRODUCTION, 



xU 



Had M. Poivre's merit been lefs known, 

 I fhould have eagerly embraced this oppor- 

 tunity 



whofe memoir this account h taken, " announced itfelf 

 about nine in the evening, when the moon appeared 

 above the honzon : btit its greateft violence was be- 

 tween eleven and one in the morning. The roaring of 

 the wind, and the nolfe of the thunder, were dreadful i 

 while the lightning, which made the earth and the hea- 

 Tcns appear as if on fire, ft til added to the horror of the 

 fccne. The fear of the inhabitants did not ceafc till to- 

 wards five in the momingi but when day appeared, the 

 fpc£l:adc was drendful beyond defcription . More than 

 three hundred hovifes were deftroyed in the town of 

 F&rt L&uiSf all the Toofa were carried away, urid tlic 

 principal church was reduced to a heap of ruins. 

 Many of tlie people were buried under the rubbifh ; 

 others, bruifed and mutilated, folicited alBftance from 

 their neighbours, who were not in a fituation to afibrcl 

 them relief; and the ftrcets were ftrewcd with nails, 

 rplinters of wood, fliingles, and fragments of every 

 kind. All the vcilcls in the harbour, tn number thirty- 

 two, were driven on ftore and greatly damaged* Of 

 fpvcral ImaJi barks nothing was to be fcen but the 



kecUi 



