, we
encountered a hurricane.

Out of the calm sea there suddenly came a monstrous wave which broke so
violently on the shore that everybody fled. The foam rose fifty feet
into the air. Behind it came three waves the same height and force, like
three long rolling hills. The air was heavy, the sky dark with
motionless clouds, and the vast flocks of whimbrels and drivers came in
from the open sea and scattered along the coast. The land birds and
animals seemed perturbed. Even men felt a secret terror at the sight of
a frightful tempest in the midst of calm weather.

On the second day the wind completely dropped, and the sea grew wilder.
The billows were more numerous, and swept in from the ocean with great
force. All the small boats were drawn far up on the land, and the people
strengthened their house with joists and ropes. Seven ships besides the
Indien were riding at anchor, and the islanders gathered in a crowd
along the shore to see if they would weather the storm. At noon the sky
began to lower, and a strong wind arose suddenly from the south-east.
Everyone was afraid that the vessels would be flung ashore, and a signal
was made from the battery for them to depart. As the cannon went off,
the vessels cut their cables and got under sail, and at the end of two
hours they disappeared in the north-east in the midst of a black sky.

At three o'clock the hurricane came. The sound was frightful. All the
winds of heaven were loose. The stricken sea came over the land in
clouds of spindrift, sand, and pebbles, and buried everything within
fifty feet of the shore in shingle. The church was unroofed, and part of
the Government House destroyed. The hurricane lasted till three o'clock
in the morning. The Indien did not return, but sailed away with all my
effects on it. There was nothing for me to do but to wait at Bourbon for
another, homeward-bound ship; so I resolved to profit by my misfortune,
and make an excursion into the island.

This enabled me to gather something of the history of Bourbon. It was
first inhabited by a band of pirates, who brought with them some
negresses from Madagascar. This happened in 1657. Some time afterwards
our Indian company set up a factory in the island, and the governor
managed to keep on good terms with his dangerous neighbours. One day the
Portuguese viceroy of Goa anchored off the island and came to dine with
the governor. He had scarcely landed when a pirate ship of fifty guns
entered t