102 TRAVELS IN 
it ; my teat was overturned ; and I was re^ 
duced to the neceiTity of covering myfelf with 
the canvas, while my people feciired them- 
felves in the beil manner they ccuid. 
The rain in the m.ean thne poured down 
in torrents, and fo great was the deluge, that 
we might have fuppofed all Africa about to be 
inundated. The heavens, meanwhile, which 
feemed thus to diflblve into water, appeared 
by the lightning to be every now and then 
actually on fire. The flaflies embraced the 
whole at mofphere ; while the thunder, burfling 
on every fide at once, made us all apprehend 
that we fhould infallibly become its vi(Elims. 
I had feen violent ftorms in CafFraria ; I 
was acquainted with thofe of the Cape, fo much 
dreaded by mariners and travellers ; and I had 
not forgotten thofe of Surinam,~which, for two 
months together, rifing daily with the tide, 
announce the feafon of drought : but till this 
period I had never beheld one fo alarming ; 
and, for the iiril time in my life, the found of 
thunder made me tremble. 
It is true, to fecure and preferve my powder 
I had placed it near me under the canvafs ; 
and while I feared thai the thunder might 
break over me, I feared alfo for my magazine, 
- whichj 
