ould; in
his preparations for manufacturing tappa. The weather was so genial,
(except during the middle of the day, when the heat was frequently
intolerable), that we felt no want of any other shelter than such as the
grove afforded us. Generally, towards evening, a refreshing breeze set
in from the sea, and lasted several hours. We experienced no bad
effects from sleeping in the open air, and far from finding it a
hardship, we soon came to consider it every way more pleasant, than to
be cribbed and cabined within four close walls. There was something
delightful, in dropping off into dreamland, listening to the whispering
of the leaves above you, and catching glimpses through them, of a sky so
deliciously blue, and stars so wonderfully bright. It seemed as though
in this favoured spot, the fable of a perpetual summer was to be
realised, and the whole circle of the year was to be crowned with the
same freshness and verdure and beauty, the same profusion of fruits and
flowers, which we had thus far enjoyed. But such expectations, if any
of us were beguiled into entertaining them, were destined to be rudely
dissipated. One hot afternoon, we were startled from a drowsy siesta in
the grove, by a peal of thunder, such as is rarely heard in temperate
climates, and on springing up and looking about us, we beheld above and
around us, certain indications, which it would have been far more
interesting and agreeable to contemplate from beneath the shelter of a
snug and comfortable dwelling. The wind moaned through the bending
tree-tops; the face of the heavens was black as night, and the waters of
the lagoon, and of the ocean, had darkened to a steely blue beneath
their frown. Before we had fairly shaken off our drowsiness, another
abrupt peal of thunder burst overhead, with a suddenness that seemed to
jar the very clouds and shake the water out of them, for the rain began
all at once to come down violently, in big drops, that rattled like
hailstones upon the crisp leaves of the forest. The thunder appeared to
have completed its office in giving the signal for the clouds to
discharge their contents, and we heard it no more. For a time, the
dense foliage of the large tree under which we gathered, completely
sheltered us; but soon the moisture began to drip slowly from the lower
leaves, and occasionally fell in sudden showers, as the branches were
shaken by the wind.

At length, the ground became thoroughly saturated, shal