In
fact, a short while after, we had a visit from this _curieux_, who,
after he had said all manner of impertinences to us, went to hunt in our
plantation, where he killed the only duck which we had left, and which
he had the audacity to carry away in spite of our entreaties.
Fortunately for the insolent thief, my father was absent, else he would
have avenged the death of the duck, which even the tigers had spared in
the massacre of our poultry-yard.

Since the commencement of winter, we had had but little rain, when one
night we were roused by a loud peal of thunder. A horrible tempest swept
over us, and the hurricane bent the trees of the fields. The lightning
tore up the ground, the sound of the thunder redoubled, and torrents of
water were precipitated upon our cottage. The winds roared with the
utmost fury, our roofs were swept away, our huts were blown down, and
all the waters of heaven rushed in upon us. A flood penetrated our
habitation; all our family drenched, confounded, sought refuge under the
wrecks of our walls of straw and reeds. All our effects were floating,
and hurried off by the floods which surrounded us. The whole heavens
were in a blaze; the thunderbolt burst, fell, and burned the main-mast
of the French brig Nantaise, which was anchored at a little distance
from our island. After this horrible detonation, calm was insensibly
restored, whilst the hissing of serpents and howlings of the wild beasts
were the only sounds heard around us. The insects and reptiles, creeping
out of the earth, dispersed themselves through all the places of our
cottage which water had not covered. Large beetles went buzzing on all
sides, and attached themselves to our clothes, whilst the millepedes,
lizards, and crabs of an immense size, crawled over the wrecks of our
huts. At last, about ten o'clock, nature resumed her tranquillity, the
thunder ceased to be heard, the winds instantly fell, and the air
remained calm and dull.

After the tempest had ceased, we endeavoured to mend our huts a little,
but we could not effect it; and were obliged to remain all day under the
wrecks of our cottage. Such, however, was the manner in which we spent
nearly all our days and nights. In reading this recital, the reader has
but a feeble idea of the privations, the sufferings, and the evils, to
which the unfortunate Picard family were exposed during their stay in
the island of Safal.

About this time, my father was obliged to go to Sen