CHAP. IY. 
EFFECTS OF THE GALE. 
103 
cross piece attached to the signal post was lowered, and every 
precaution for security adopted. 
The wind, blowing from the northward and eastward, con¬ 
tinued to increase with violent and fearful gusts until about 
two o’clock in the morning, when it changed and blew from an 
opposite direction, but with less violence, until daylight. The 
rain then ceased, and by eight or nine o’clock we had the 
pleasure of beholding the sun break through the clouds. Oar 
yard was strewn with branches of trees, and on the sides of 
the trees exposed to the wind the long pendant boughs not 
absolutely broken off were bent inwards or upwards by the 
force of the gale. In walking down to the port office, al¬ 
though I did not see any houses unroofed, I was struck with 
the devastation amongst the trees. Almost every tree was 
bent towards the south-west, and one banyan tree in the 
Place d’Armes was torn up by the roots and lay prostrate on 
the ground. There was a heavy swell rolling into the har¬ 
bour, but no damage amongst the ships, which, with their 
yards and upper masts on deck, looked more like hulks than 
the tall vessels they had appeared a few days before. Some 
of them had four anchors out. Scarcely a boat stirred in 
the bay during the whole day, and the attendance of seamen 
on the usual religious service at the port office was exceed¬ 
ingly small. 
In the afternoon, when I accompanied Mr. Kelsey and his 
family to their residence, I was surprised as we passed through 
the streets to see bars and boards nailed across so many of 
the doors and windows of the different buildings, while others 
were buttressed or propped up with strong pieces of timber. 
It is said that if the wind during a hurricane loosens a door 
or shutter, and finds entrance to a building, it tears off the 
roof altogether, and scatters it in fragments around. On 
visiting the ships afterwards, I learned that the sailors on 
