POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
19 
able^ was now against us, and as soon as we could dis¬ 
tinguish the flagstaff on the coast, we found ourselves far¬ 
ther from it than before. The wind increased; and as the 
evening advanced, a heavy storm came on, which raged 
with fearful violence. The night was unusually dark ; 
the long and heavy waves of the Pacific rolled in foam 
around our vessel; the stormy wind howled through 
the rigging ; all hands were on deck, and twice or thrice, 
while in the act of turning the ship from the land, the 
sails were rent by the tempest; while the hoarse and 
hollow roaring of the breakers, and the occasional glim¬ 
mering of lights on the coast, combined to convince us 
of our situation, and the proximity of our danger. The 
depression of spirits, resulting from the disappointment, 
which had been more or less felt by all on board, the 
noise of the tempest, the vociferations and frequent im¬ 
precations of the ofiicers, the hurried steps and almost 
incessant labours of the seamen on deck, and the heavy 
and violent motion of the vessel, which detached from 
their fastenings, and dashed with violence from one side 
of the ship to the other, chests of drawers, trunks, and 
barrels, that had remained secure and stationary dur¬ 
ing the voyage, produced a state of mind peculiarly dis¬ 
tressing. The general disorder that prevailed, with the 
constant apprehension of striking on some fatal rock, 
that might lie unseen near the craggy and iron-bound 
shore, and being either ingulfed in the mighty deep, 
or wrecked on the inhospitable coast, rendered the night 
altogether one of the most alarming and anxious that we 
had passed since our departure from England. Amidst 
the confusion by which we were surrounded, we expe¬ 
rienced comparative composure of mind, resting on our 
God: 
