understood afterwards, were regarded as the discharges of cannon; so much so, that the garrison of St Ann's castle was kept under arms for the remainder of the night.
The explosions having ceased, nothing occurred to excite my attention during the remainder of the night; but when I arose, on the light of morning beginning very faintly to appear, I was struck with surprise on approaching the window, by seeing what I took to be a very dense black cloud threatening rain, as a thunder storm was not to be expected at that period of the year: the horizon, along the edge of the sea, was clearly defined by the morning light; but, immediately above it, the black cloud seemed to fringe the surface of the sea, and to cover the whole atmosphere. At this time I had not observed any fall of dust; but I was afterwards informed by my servants, that particles of dust had been falling for the greater part of the night, though in small quantity! On returning to the other part of the room, and fixing my eyes steadily on the window, I was greatly astonished by the gradual disappearance of the faint light which had been visible before, and in a few minutes afterwards, by finding that I had totally lost sight of the sash of the window—an occurrence which I well knew never takes place in the most stormy or in the darkest night of the West Indies. I groped my way to the window, and touched the glass without seeing it; and on opening the sash, I first perceived that particles of dust were flying about; but the darkness was so profound, that I could not discover the outline of the neighbouring hills, the trees around the house, or, in short, any one object. I soon after quitted the house, and found that the earth was covered with dust; that it fell in a constant thick shower, occasionally with considerable force; and that the windows, on the windward side of the house, were incrusted with it: but the darkness was so great, that a white handkerchief held close to the face could not be seen, and it was impossible for me to walk in the garden without the risk of striking against the trees or other large objects. I then first remarked a smell of some burnt matter, and I fancied I saw, or I really saw, on looking upwards attentively, a lurid red appearance of the clouds, over head, through the profound darkness.
At this time, a perfect calm, and the most remarkable stillness, uninterrupted by the usual noise of the surf of the sea, was observable, and was rendered more evident by the crash of the limbs of the trees of a very large wood which was adjacent to the house, and which formed an awful contrast to the extreme stillness of the atmosphere. On holding a lantern to some of the trees, I found that the limbs of the more flexible ones were bent almost to the ground by the weight of the dust which adhered to them. The fall of dust during the period of darkness was incessant, but at some times it was harder and thicker than at others. It ceased between twelve and one o'clock. I first began to discover the sashes of the windows, and the outlines of the trees, soon after twelve; and at one I could plainly distinguish the lurid red clouds of a fiery aspect which hung low, and swept past the island; it was at this time that I was first struck by the noise of a tremendous surf, and on looking to the sea, I evidently saw it lashing the shore, having, as it would appear, risen to its utmost height and fury from a state of perfect quiescence in the shortest possible space of time; as during the period of darkness not the slightest murmur of the sea could be heard.
The aspect of the country around was now become wintry and dreary; the sugar canes were levelled with the earth ; the smaller plants were laid prostrate: and the limbs of the trees were either broken off or bent downwards, as the wood was flexible or brittle,—and the whole surface of the soil was covered with grayish ashes to the depth of an inch.
The next morning I rode to the beach, and could clearly perceive, by the mark which the sea had left on the dust lying on the green sward, that it had risen to a height which had covered the whole of the sands, and reached the adjacent shrubs and grass. The perpendicular height which, to have effected this, it must have risen, I then measured, and I perfectly recollect that it was very great; as, however, I have left the memoranda, (which I penned at the time) of all the circumstances of this event in Barbadoes, I will not venture to state from memory that measurement.
If regard be had to the relative situation of the island of Barbadoes, it
