20 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
a tolerable shelter under a projecting ledge which 
overhung a part of our path to the extent of several 
feet. The lightning streamed from the clouds as from 
a mighty reservoir, wrapping the whole mountains in 
flame, and literally, in the words of Scripture, “ ran 
along the ground.” The flashes were so quick in 
succession that there was only the pause of a few 
seconds between them, while the peals of thunder 
which followed were almost deafening. The scene 
was grand beyond description. The loud and suc- 
cessive peals were multiplied to such a degree by 
the surrounding echoes, that there was one continued 
and tremendous crash of several minutes, and at the 
first pause the silence was so intense as to be po- 
sitively painful. The thunder was repeated from 
rock to rock, rolling along the valleys as if subverting 
the very bases of the hills, and finally hushing its 
portentous roar in those interminable glens where the 
eye cannot penetrate and even the contemplation of 
which causes the brain to whirl. Though the storm 
did not continue above a few minutes, it was never- 
theless some time before we entirely recovered from 
its effects ; it had, indeed, made a deep impression 
on us all and was by far the most terrible, for the 
time it lasted, I had ever witnessed. The atmos- 
phere now quickly brightened; the clouds separated 
before the sun which threw a clear flood of light upon 
the dripping foliage whence it was cast back in num- 
berless vivid reflections, while the retreating thunders 
were heard only at a distance and after long intervals. 
The heavy masses of vapour which had enveloped the 
