ALAGOAS AND THE RIO SAN FRANCISCO. 99
a
mass of black clouds, the sure harbinger of a coming storm. We were
then nearly in the middle of the river, which was about a league broad;
and as the storm was approaching with great rapidity, the master of the
canoe gave instant orders to run her in to the north shore, but before
we had reached the distance, we were overtaken by a gust of wind which
laid her nearly on her broadside. A considerable quantity of water was
shipped, and the crew lost all command of themselves, one crying to do
this, and another that, without anything being done. The lower part of
the sail on the lee side was in the water keeping the edge of the canoe
down, and had it not been for my exertions and my man Pedro's
assistance, in seizing hold of the rope by which the extreme point of
the long boom is drawn up to the mast head, and thus raising it out of
the water, the canoe, to a certainty, would have filled, and we should
all have been inevitably drowned. Still we were at some distance from
the river bank, and the storm was setting in with all its fury, the
waves were dashing over the weather gunnel, while the lee side was
taking in great quantities of water. In the meantime the sails had been
stowed away, and seeing the danger of keeping her broadside any longer
to the wind, the master gave orders to run her over to the other side
of the river before the wind. We thus steered in an oblique direction
nearly three miles before we reached the south side, and during this
fearful interval the wind, the rain, thunder and lightning were such
as I had never before been exposed to. It was now quite dark, but the
vivid flashes both of forked and sheet lightning gave a light, from
time to time, as brilliant nearly as noon-day. The canoe ran aground
among some small trees to two of which she was made fast; the rain
continued to fall in torrents for nearly two hours, and from our
unavoidable exposure to its influence we were all drenched to the skin.
When the storm had entirely exhausted itself, we found that the wind
had died away also, and as we could not resume our voyage, we
determined to return with the current to the island of San Pedro. This
we accordingly did, and had to remain in our wet clothes during the
greater part of the night. In going down I observed
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