tanding I had the good fortune to escape the danger of being
exposed to one, I more than once prepared for the worst. One of these
was accompanied with phenomena so unusual and striking to a native of
Europe, that I must not omit some notice of it, if for no other purpose
than to convey to the mind of the reader one of the many unpleasant but
wonderful accompaniments of a residence in these latitudes, so
poetically, and indeed so truthfully, apostrophized as "the sunny
south."

It was while on a journey (accompanied by two yeomen from East Florida,
who were proceeding to join an expedition against the Indians to defend
their hearths, and by the friend whose melancholy loss I have adverted
to) from Deadman's Bay towards Tallahassee, that the occurrence I am
about to mention took place It was in the height of summer, and for
several days Fahrenheit's barometer had ranged from 84 to 90 degrees,
the temperature being occasionally even higher, by some degrees, than
this. We started soon after eight in the morning, and had ridden all day
under a scorching sun, from the effects of which we were but
ill-defended by our palm-leaf hats, for our heads were aching
intensely--my own being, in common parlance, "ready to split," not an
inapt simile, by the way, as I often experienced in the south. Towards
evening, the sultriness increased to a great degree, and respiration
became painful, from the closeness of the atmosphere. A suspicious lull
soon after succeeded, and we momentarily expected the storm to overtake
us. It was not, however, one that was to be relieved by an ordinary
discharge of thunder, lightning, and rain--deeper causes being evidently
at work. The denseness of the air was accompanied by a semi-darkness,
similar to that which prevails during an eclipse of the sun, which
luminary, on the occasion I refer to, after all day emitting a lurid
glare, was so shrouded in vapour as to be scarcely discernible, even in
outline--while a subterranean noise added to the terrors of our
situation, which strongly called to mind the accounts we read of
earthquakes and similar phenomena.

We moved slowly on, as people naturally would who were about to be
overwhelmed in a calamity that threatened their annihilation, while an
indefinable sensation of sleepiness and inertia seized the whole of the
party. Vultures and other birds of prey screamed dismally, as they
hovered round our heads in the greatest excitement, arising either from
ter