XXXV lii I N T ROB U C T I OK . 



which fell, nor the thunder and lightning, 

 were able to allay the fury of the winds : 

 but at three o'clock next day the mercury, 

 which had fallen twenty -five lines, remained 

 for fome minutes ftationary* A little time 

 after it again rofe ; the fuddcn gufts theti 

 ceafed, the wind became more Ready, and 

 at fix in the evening it was poJTible to give 

 fome affiftancc to the unfortunate people 

 who had been fhipwrecked. In fuch terri- 

 ble fituations, man, prcifed down by the im- 

 perious yoke of neceffity, feems to have loft 

 all fenfibility. He waits, therefore, in a 

 kind of ftupor for the blow which is 

 about to fall upon him. He endures in 

 filence, and without murmuring, the evils 

 by which he is afflided. During this hur- 

 ricane, the communications in different 

 parts of the ifland were interrupted by the 

 falling of trees, and the overflowing of 

 waters. We were three weeks without 



hearing 



