e lee of
this extemporised breakwater. It was but a feeble barrier, however,
against so wild a storm, and the native boatmen were so overcome by
fear, that they sat down in the bottom of the boat, and covered their
eyes with their hands.

After a time the rain diminished, the sky began to clear, and the boat's
crew to revive, when suddenly one of the men uttered a cry of
consternation, and pointed to an object towards which all eyes were
instantly turned. They beheld a large cylindrical waterspout,
extending, like a massive column, from the ocean to the dark and
impending clouds. It was not far distant, and seemed to move slowly
towards the boat.

Had Mr Ellis had any doubt as to the danger of a waterspout, the
extreme terror exhibited by the natives on this occasion must have
removed it; for it was not probable that, just after escaping from the
most imminent peril, they would fail back into a much more violent state
of terror, unless former experience had given them too good reason to
dread the presence of the object they now saw before them.

The roughness of the sea forbade their attempting to hoist a sail in
order to avoid the waterspout. They were compelled, therefore, to
summon all the resolution they possessed, to enable them calmly to await
its approach, and put their trust in the arm of Jehovah.

The helm was in the hands of a seaman whose steadiness could be depended
on. The natives were down in the bottom of the boat; they had given way
to despair.

Two other waterspouts now came into view, and subsequently a third, if
not more, so that they felt as if completely surrounded by them. Some
were well defined, extending in an unbroken line from the sea to the
sky, like pillars resting on the ocean as their basis, and supporting
the clouds; others, assuming the shape of a funnel or inverted cone
attached to the clouds, extended their sharp points to the ocean below.
From the distinctness with which they were seen, it was judged that the
furthest could not have been many miles distant. In some they imagined
they could trace the spiral motion of the water as it was drawn up to
the clouds, which were every moment being augmented in their portentous
darkness. The sense of personal danger, Mr Ellis confesses, and the
certainty of instant destruction if brought within their vortex,
prevented a very careful observation of their appearance and
accompanying phenomena.

The storm continued all day, and at i