4 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
a mysterious but omnipotent hand had traced upon its 
broad expanse mystical characters not to be definitive- 
ly interpreted^ but yet; like the handwriting on the 
wall in the palace of the Chaldean king; of most por- 
tentous aspect. The only lady among us every now 
and then expressed her fears; when a sudden gust 
caused the vessel to lurch with an increased momen- 
tum; as if the billows were already commencing a 
fiercer conflict. 
By noon the wind had risen to a steady gale; yet 
there was nothing to excite immediate apprehen- 
sion. The clouds had by this time obscured the sun, 
over which they rolled in dark misshapen masses; 
appearing at intervals as if they had been torn asun- 
der by the wind and scattered in gigantic fragments 
through the troubled air. The very forms they as- 
sumed had that monstrous indistinctness of outline 
such as the imagination shapes in sleep; bringing be- 
fore the entranced eye shadowy nothings which im- 
part a vague but actual feeling of terror. Fancy gave 
them now an indefinite yet palpable existence — I 
mean a vital existence — and each fantastic volume 
that passed over the ship changing its form with every 
fresh burst of the blast; seemed a new harbinger of 
mischief. 
“ The firmament is filled with scatter’d clouds, 
And as they fly before the wind, their forms, 
As in a picture, image various shapes — 
The semblances of storks and soaring swans, 
Of dolphins and huge monsters of the deep. 
Of dragons vast, and pinnacles and towers.”* 
* From the “ Mrichchakati,” or “ Toy-cart,” a Hindoo drama. 
