102 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. chap iv. 
fusion, and the wind increasing every hour. I found the 
Calcutta steam packet, instead of departing, had taken down 
her upper yards. All the small vessels had been removed 
from the sides of the wharves where they were usually moored, 
the boats all drawn up, all the bags of sugar or other mer¬ 
chandise removed from the sheds near the quays; and on 
board all the vessels the utmost activity appeared, heightened 
by the shouting or the songs of the sailors of different na¬ 
tions as they were sending down their yards, and many of them 
their top-gallant masts; while the ships near the edge of the 
harbour were taking up their anchors and running out to sea 
to avoid being driven on shore. 
Amongst the preparations on shore, I noticed that many of 
the straggling branches of trees in the public gardens had 
been cut off, so as to afford the wind less hold of them. The 
ground was already strewn with the small branches and green 
leaves cut from the trees by the blast. It was very dark all 
the rest of the afternoon, and the wind and rain continued to 
increase. As I walked home through the company’s garden 
the watercourse was full, and the usually small stream was 
flowing along, a rapid, turbid, mountain torrent. On looking 
towards the Pouce and adjacent mountains, I counted nine 
different cascades rushing from the hollows amongst the 
ridges, and pouring in foam and spray down the mountain 
sides, where at other times no stream could be seen. M. Le 
Brun sent to his son to have the house in which he lived 
carefully fastened, and every loose shutter or board nailed up. 
Our residence, as well as most of the houses, was furnished 
with strong, heavy, outside shutters, called hurricane shutters. 
It had extra doors of the same kind, and these were all well 
secured. In every direction, during the rest of the evening, 
nothing was heard but the hammering of heavy iron bolts or 
bars and the nailing up of doors and shutters. The yard or 
