Page:Account of a dreadful hurricane which happened in the island of Jamaica, in the month of October, 1780.pdf/11

 upended; and intead of Nature and her works, the mind was petrified by the ſeeming approach of fate and chaos. The country looked as if it had been lately viſited by fire and the ſword, as if the Tornado had rifled Africa of its ands, to depost their contents upon the denuded boom of the hilis; as if Æina had ſcorched the mountains, and a volcano had taken poeion of every height. The trees were up rooted, the dwellings deſtroyed; and in ſome places, not a tone was left to indicate the uſe to which it was once applied. Thoe who had houes, could hardly diſtinguiſh their ruins and the proprietor knew not where to fix the ituation of his former poeions. The very beats of all decriptions, were conſcious of the calamity: the birds, particularly the domeſtic pigeons, were mot of them deſtroyed; and the fih were driven from thoſe rivers, and thoe eas, of which they had before been the peaceful inhabitants. New ſtreams aroe, and extenſive lakes were ſpread, where rills were ſcarcely feen to trickle before; and ferry-boats were obliged to ply, where carriges were uſed to travel with afety and convenience. The roads were for a long time impaible among the mountains, the low lands were overflowed, and numbers of cattle were carried away by the depth and impetuoity of the torrents; while the boundries of the different plantations were unk beneath the accumulated preſſure of the innundation.

To give you at once a more general idea of this tremendous hurricane, I hall oberve, that not a ingle houe was left undamaged in the parih; not a ingle et of works, trah-houe, or other ubordinat building, that was not greatly injured, or entirely deſtroyed. Not a ſingle wharf, ftore houſe, or hed, for the depoſit of goods, was left anding: they were all fwept away at once by the billows