452 TRAVELS m THE EAST IJfDiAN ARCHIPELAGO, 



tain shouting out to his Malay crew all sorts of or- 

 ders in rapid succession. Soon he came down to in- 

 form us, in the most trembling toneSj it was so dark 

 that it was not possible to see any thing, and iu a 

 few moments we should all be droT^Tied. I hurried 

 on deck, more from a habit of always wishing to see 

 what is going to happen, than from fear, A thick, 

 black mass of clouds was rolling up from seaward 

 and spreading over the Rky with alarming rapidity. 

 Tlie mainsail was taken in and only the main-jib was 

 set, wlien the first gust stnick ua Immediately, as 

 if rolled over by a gigantic hand, our boat careened 

 until her lee-rail was completely under water, and I 

 thought, for a moment, she would certainly capsize. 

 The main-jib burst into ribbons, and at last we 

 righted. The flyiug-jib was then set, when she came 

 near upsetting again. We were then only about a 

 mile from the land, and the wind was directly on 

 shore, so that it was impossible to save ourselves by 

 running before it. Nothing could be done to keep 

 off the rocks excepting to heave-to and trast to our 

 anchor. All the cable possible was paid out, and yet 

 the tempest continued to drive us toward the land. 

 Another gust carae, and as the lightning flashed I 

 could see that we were not half a mile from a high 

 island with precipitous shores, encircled by a coral 

 reef, where the heavj^ swell rolling directly in from 

 the ocean was breaking apparently twelve or fifteen 

 feet high. I knew that at the rate we were drifting 

 we must strike on it in fifteen minutes, and that to a 

 certainty our frail boat would be broken into frag- 

 ments in an instant. There was no possibility of es- 



