h as sailors seldom use. And all
that was wanting to complete his happiness, was his Eve to stroll by
his side among the groves of citron and lemon--redolent with every
fruit that is inviting, and every flower that is beautiful. And how she
longed to be with him I need not tell!

While, however, the ship was yet in those seas, cruising in the gulf of
Mexico, autumn came on, and with it the season of storms. The lofty
peaks of the stupendous mountains, in some of the nearest islands, were
frequently in sight, perceptible often at a great distance, from the
peculiar transparency of the atmosphere. At length the experienced
navigators discerned celestial phenomena, which caused them to watch
the heavens with greater solicitude. Piles of massive clouds, fleecy,
and of a reddish hue, were observed in the morning, in the
south-eastern quarter of the heavens, and the crests of the mountains,
cloudless and yet of an azure cast, seemed nearer the ship than they
were wont. Soon the pillowy masses of vapor began to move lazily toward
the mountains--flashes which were but dimly discerned breaking from
them, followed by the hollow and distant roll of thunder--sometimes so
distinctly as to sound as if reverberating from peak to peak among the
mountains, though yet at a very great distance. The ocean, too, began
to heave as though in labor, and its roaring was borne along upon the
freshening breeze. These indications spoke but too clearly the approach
of one of those dreadful visitations in which the Almighty so
frequently displays his power in the West India seas, and proclaims his
judgments in such melancholy dispensations. The wind increased, the
roaring of the ocean deepened upon the ear, and all hands in every
craft upon the gulf were engaged in reefing their sails, and making
every thing snug for the onset.

Nothing can be more fierce, sudden, or uncontrollable, than the West
India hurricanes. Electrical in their origin, the moment the spark
produces a combination of oxygen and hydrogen, the sudden and terrible
fall of hail and rain pouring impetuously down, creates a vacuum into
which the air rushes from every direction with tremendous velocity.
Sometimes the air, by the meeting of opposite currents, assumes the
form of a whirlwind: a dark cloud preceding it, unrolling itself
suddenly, and mantling the whole heavens in gloom, lightened
occasionally by the flashings of lurid fire,--while if upon land,
houses, corn-stacks, cane