the bamboo cane. On these plains we may observe the BOOK bushy oleander, all the varieties of the Jerusalem thorn XCIII. and African rose, the bright scarlet of the cordium, bowers of Jessamine and Grenadilla vines and the silver and silky leaves of the portlandia. Fields of sugar-cane, the houses of the planters, the huts of the negroes and the distant coast lined with ships add to the beauty of a West Indian landscape. At sun-rise, when no breeze ripples the surface of the ocean, it is frequently so transparent that one can perceive, as if there were no intervening medium, the channel of the water, and observe the shell-fish scattered on the rocks and the medusæ reposing on the sand. cane. A hurricane is generally preceded by an awful stillness A hurriof the elements, the air becomes close and heavy, the sun is red and the stars at night seem unusually large. Frequent changes take place in the thermometer, which rises sometimes from eighty to ninety degrees.* Darkness extends over the earth; the higher regions gleam with lightning. The impending storm is first observed on the sea, foaming mountains rise suddenly from its clear and motionless surface. The wind rages with unrestrained fury; its noise may be compared to the distant thunder. The rain descends in torrents, shrubs and lofty trees are borne down by the mountain stream, the rivers overflow their banks, and submerge the plains. Terror and consternation seem to pervade the whole of animated nature; land birds are driven into the ocean, and those whose element is the sea, seek for refuge in the woods. The frighted beasts of the field herd together, or roam in vain for a place of shelter. It is not a contest of two opposite winds, or a roaring ocean that shakes the earth; all the elements are thrown into confusion, the equilibrium of the atmosphere seems as if it were destroyed, and nature appears to hasten to her ancient chaos. Scenes of desolation have been disclosed in these *Beckford. BOOK islands by the morning's sun,-uprooted trees, branches XCIII. shivered from their trunks, the ruins of houses have been strewed over the land. The planter is sometimes unable to distinguish the place of his former possessions. Fertile vallies may be changed in a few hours into dreary wastes, covered with the carcasses of domestic animals and the fowls of heaven. * This isle answers to the isle Saint Laurent, the principal of the isles of Sindow. †This answers to the isle Saint Mathias of the Russians. Deprived at present of several Russian relations, we have not been able to establish comparisons, and the synonymes which we wished in this part of the table. |