374 GUEEKLAND VOYAGE. 
the NKW. The storm raged with great violence 
the whole of the day (the 11th); notwithstanding 
which, we were obliged to carry as much canvas 
as possible, to endeavour to gain an offing from 
the dangerous coast to the eastward. But the 
frequent shifting of the wind happened unfavour¬ 
ably for us, and at mid-day we could not calculate 
upon being above five or six leagues from the land. 
In the afternoon the sun broke through the 
dense atmosphere that had hitherto prevailed and 
screened its rays; hut instead of cheering us with 
its presence, it only illuminated the edges of the 
black tempest-threatening clouds, and partial 
spots of the surface of the turbulent sea, throwing 
the other portions of the sky and sea into tenfold 
gloom, and portentous obscurity. The gale for a 
few minutes rather subsided; but the tempestuous 
expression of the heavens was too well marked, 
and the low state of the barometer (28.50) too 
strongly indicative of a storm, to allow us to hope 
for a present cessation of the gale. The deceit¬ 
ful lull 5 was only an interval of accumulation; for 
the wind now chopping round to NW. by N., (a 
direction “ dead” upon the land), its pent up stores 
suddenly burst upon us with the fury of a hurri- 
* Brief interval of moderate weather in a storm. 
