306 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
not only broke the force of the billows that were 
rolling towards the boat, but kept it tolerably 
steady, while we were dashed on the broken wave, 
or wafted we knew not whither by the raging 
tempest. 
The rain soon abated, and the northern horizon 
became somewhat clear, but the joyful anticipation 
with which we viewed this change was soon super¬ 
seded by a new train of feelings. Ure ure, tia 
moana! exclaimed one of the natives ; and, look¬ 
ing in the direction to which he pointed, we saw 
a large cylindrical waterspout, extending, like a 
massive column, from the ocean to the dark and 
impending clouds. It was not very distant, and 
seemed moving towards our apparently devoted 
boat. 
The roughness of the sea forbade our attempting 
to hoist a sail in order to avoid it; and as we had 
no other means of safety at command, we endea¬ 
voured calmly to wait its approach. The natives 
abandoned themselves to despair, and either threw 
themselves along in the bottom of the boat, or sat 
crouching on the keel, with their faces downwards, 
and their eyes covered with their hands. The 
sailor kept at the helm, Mr. Barff sat on one side 
of the stern, and I on the other, watching the 
alarming object before us ! While thus employed, 
we saw two other waterspouts, and subsequently a 
third, if not more, so that we seemed almost sur¬ 
rounded with them. Some were well defined, 
extending in an unbroken line from the sea 
to the sky, like pillars resting on the ocean as 
their basis, and supporting the clouds ; others 
assuming the shape of a funnel or inverted 
cone, attached to the clouds, and extending to¬ 
wards the waters beneath. From the distinctness 
