indness, which
entitled their preservers to the thanks of all who would wish to be so
received under such circumstances. I regret that the name of the captain
of the ship has escaped me; though I remember it being said, that he had
himself been saved on a previous occasion by a Liverpool ship in the
China Sea.

Not long before the arrival of the Beagle in Port Louis, a fleet of
crippled vessels, the victims of a recent hurricane, might have been seen
making their way into the harbour, some dismasted, others kept afloat
with difficulty, firing guns of distress, or giving other signs of their
helpless condition. The monotony of colonial life was suddenly disturbed,
by no means disagreeably to some, as the telegraph told off a succession
of lame ducks, as they were jocularly called, such as seldom or ever had
been witnessed, even at that place. It required but a visit to the bell
buoy, to see at a glance the destructive effects of the storm on the
unfortunate ships.

EFFECTS OF HURRICANE AT MAURITIUS.

On the tranquil surface of the harbour lay a group of shattered vessels,
presenting the appearance of floating wrecks. In almost all, the
bulwarks, boats, and everything on deck had been swept away; some, that
were towed in, had lost all their masts, others more or less of their
spars; one had her poop and all its cabins swept away; many had four or
five feet water in the hold, and the clank of the pumps was still kept up
by the weary crew.

Such was the description given me of the circumstances under which the
crowd of vessels that lay at anchor in Port Louis had arrived. I had
anticipated that I should here be enabled to make some important
additions to the notices of hurricanes that have occasionally appeared in
this work; and certainly ample opportunity now presented itself. But I
found that this interesting subject was in more able hands, those,
namely, of Mr. Alexander Thom, of H.M. 86th Regiment, whose valuable
observations have been laid before the public, in a work called, An
Inquiry into the Nature and Course of Storms; a volume that embraces many
important considerations for seamen, to whom, indeed, and to the
ship-owner, Mr. Thom, by his scientific investigations, has proved
himself a true friend.

It is curious that military men should have been the first to study the
causes of hurricanes, and to tell sailors how to avoid their effects; but
that such is the case, the works of Colonel Reid and of my friend