Page:Colnett - Voyage to the South Pacific (IA cihm 33242).djvu/144

 of December, the barometer fell uddenly from 30-1 to 29-5-5, the winds hourly varied from Eat to South, with qualls, heavy howers of rain, continual lightning, and ditant thunder; which being on the approach of the new moon, uch an alteration in the weather might be an expected event: but as the barometer had never deceived me, I was not atisfied with its udden change, and at the ame time entertaining doubts of the cable being injured, as the hip had broke her hear frequently during the night, I became very anxious for the dawn of day, to purchae the anchor. At day-light, all round the horizon, and particularly from the South, threatened an intant hurricane, which left me not a moment to heitate for the afety of the hip, and with only eight hands on board, including myelf, we rove a purchae, weighed the anchor, and went to ea. As I conjectured, we found the cable o rubbed and worn as obliged us to cut off twenty fathoms from it.

As oon as the un had croed the meridian, the heavy qualls, and frequent howers of rain commenced, which continued to increae till the change of the moon, at two o'clock, in the morning, when it blew o trong as to reduce us to cloe-reefed top-ails; and as the gale frehened o quick on us, we had not trength enough on board to horten any more ail, we were therefore obliged to carry it. We