70 TlMEHRI. 
from earth to heaven ! Above us — the clear blue vault 
of heaven scarcely intercepted by a cloud, the air cool 
and calm ; below — but how shall I describe the horrors of 
that sight ! the scene of desolation which presented itself 
mocks all description ; materials of the most incongruous 
description were heaped together in confused masses 
around us ; others strewed over the fields or carried to 
the most astonishing distances. Scarcely a building ot 
any description was left standing, and even the stone 
walls and pillars were thrown down. My own residence, 
the manager's, overseer's, the sugar works, hospital, 
megass house, cattle sheds, were all either destroyed 
or seriously damaged, and out of 210 negro houses 
only 20 were left standing, so that our own indi- 
vidual loss is estimated at not less than £12,000 
sterling ! The breadfruit, plantain and other fruit 
trees have been almost entirely destroyed, and 
the vegetable and provision grounds so materially 
injured as to threaten us with famine. The trees on 
the mountain sides, where exposed to the gale, were 
stripped of every bough and leaf, and left like large 
maimed blasted trunks, affording no shade to the cattle, 
and conveying forcibly to the mind the appearance of 
a raging fire having passed through them, or as if a 
giant had stalked through the land, and with uplifted 
arm had swept away with one dire swoop every vestige 
of human industry. I have observed that such was their 
appearance only where exposed to the fury of the gale, 
for such are the peculiar and grotesque forms of the 
mountains and hills, rising as they do frequently to 
edges so pointed and sharp that there is scarcely room 
for the foot to pass, and separated from each other by 
