[ 629 ] 
penecl to be from home ; and, when the violence of 
it was over, I turned out to return to my houie, to 
repair fuch Ioffes as I expedited to have fuftained ; 
and, in my road, I came upon a rifing ground from 
whence I viewed the ifland of Guadaloupe, being 
then upon the Grande Terre of this ifland. 
I obferved, that the ftorm, which had affedted us 
in the night, was now very violent upon the ifland 
of Guadaloupe : it was a frightful, thick, black, 
cloud, and feemed on fire, and gravitating towards 
the earth : it occupied a fpace of about five or fix 
leagues in front; and above it the air was almoft 
clear, there appearing only a kind of miff 
I then knew, that, in order to be acquainted with 
the whole force of a hurricane, it muft be found 
in the very body of a cloud ; that is, we com- 
monly find the effedts by the impreffions made on 
us, whether by winds, rains, lightening, or thunder, 
from it. It is from the elements in it thefe effedts 
are produced, where the wind or air is comprefled, 
and rolling upon itfelf, caufes the ftorms, which 
overthrow every-thing. He is unhappy, who happens 
to be in the ftream of this fluid ; for the moft lolid 
buildings tumble down ; whilft the villages of little 
huts of the negroes ft and unhurt ; becaufe they are 
not met by the current of wind. Judge what muft 
be the violence of thefe hurricanes, when a piece of 
timber of a mill thirty-two inches fquare by thirteen 
reet long, which might weigh eight or ten thoufand 
pounds, was thrown feveral paces from its place by 
one of thefe hurricanes. 
It is in the clouds thefe elements, water, air, and 
fire, produce their effedts. The water is, as it were, 
Vol. 45? . 4 L fufpended 
