extremities were torn and irregular, and long
narrow fragments, like giant arms, streamed out from the main body, and
extended over us, as if beckoning each other to a nearer approach, and
threatening to unite their gloomy array overhead, and shut out the light
of day. As they drew nearer to one another, the lightning began to dart
from cloud to cloud, while the most terrific peals of thunder that I
have ever heard, rolled and reverberated on every side. We appeared to
be surrounded by storms, some of which were very near, for the deep
crash of the thunder, followed close upon the vivid lightnings that
flashed in the south and west. Still the narrow space of sky directly
overhead was clear, and the war of elements which was raging all around
did not extend to our immediate neighbourhood. Against the dark sides
of the cloudy pavilion that encompassed us, the sharp, zigzag lines of
lightning, as they ran from the sky to the ocean, shone out with a
blinding glare. A single half-hour had sufficed to change every thing
about us. The brazen, burning sky, was transformed into a cold, clear
expanse, of a bluish black. The sea, no longer stagnant and glassy, was
fretted by short inky waves, with creamy crests, that gave it altogether
a new aspect. The air was now fresh and cool, and the wind rising and
falling fitfully, at one moment scarcely lifted our hair or stirred our
garments, and the next, tore off the entire crests of waves, and
scattered them over us in a shower of spray. For nearly an hour we
remained apprehensive that the wind might increase to a gale. At the
end of about that time, it came gradually round to the south-east,
growing steady, but by no means violent, and the storms moved off in a
westerly direction. One heavy cloud, as it slowly passed over toward
that quarter, discharged a grateful shower of rain. We hastily spread
the sail, and some of our garments, to gather the precious drops. The
shower lasted only a few minutes, but during that time it rained
briskly. I never shall forget my sensations as I stood with face
upturned, while the big drops, more delicious than ambrosia, came
pelting down. It was far better and more strengthening than food, or
any medicine or cordial could have been, and seemed to infuse fresh life
into us all. When it was over, we wrung out from the saturated canvass,
and from our clothing, water enough to mitigate for the time, though by
no means to satisfy, the raging