27S TRAVELS IN 
mands the sea and the ^vaves permitted a ship to strike on 
a rock, and to dash to pieces ; the crew and the cargo were 
saved, and the sea cast np the ship's hell for our use." 
The weather had been excessively sultry for many days ; 
and towards the setting of the sun on this day, as we were 
descending the mountain, the heavens became suddenly over- 
spread with heavy black clouds that momentarily threatened 
to burst. The waggons just reached in time a spot in the 
valley, in some measure sheltered from the wind, when the 
storm opened with incredible fury. The violence of the wind 
was so great, that it swept away every thing before it ; and 
it was followed by a burst of thunder that seemed to " shake 
*' the foundations of old earth." Peal after peal incessantly 
rushed on each other, and roared in the mountains as if tear- 
ing and riving in pieces their masses of rock ; and streams 
of vivid fire flew with terrible swiftness to every part of the 
horizon. Heavy rain, mingled with hailstones of unusual 
bigness, and violent squalls of wind seemed to be contending 
for the mastery with the thunder and the fire. 
« Since I was man 
" Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, 
** Such groans of roaring wind, and rain, I never 
Remember to have heard." 
The storm continued a great part of the night; and on the 
following morning some of its effects were seen in the wreck 
of a grove of tall mimosas, the greatest part of which was 
torn up by the roots. Such like storms are said to be very 
fi'cquent in these great chains of mountains during the sum- 
