one of peculiar excitement, painful feelings, and of heavy responsi bility. Well may the Psalmist say. "These men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." But, to return from this digression. At the close of the third day of this awful hurricane, the cabins below being no longer habitable, the passengers were crowded into one side of the round-house, as being the only cabin from which the water could be effectually excluded. Here, then, a scene of woe was exhibited which baffles description, and was sufficiently appalling to rend the stoutest heart in twain, more, especially of his on whom all eyes were turned for consolation or assistance, neither of which was it in his power to offer, even to her who had the strongest of all claims on him for both, and whose peculiarly interesting situation demanded the utmost stretch of his sympathy. The ship, if not absolutely water-logged, was now observed to be settling fast forward. Every countenance exhibited a picture of despair; when, at this critical moment, the wind rapidly began to subside, which was no sooner announced to the people at the pumps, than their labours, which, from a feeling of despondency, had previously languished, were resumed with renewed vigor; and such was the rapidity of the change in our favor, that one of the most dreadful of all storms was speedily lulled into a perfect calm, the ship once more rose freely to the sea, and by day-light on the following morning all the water was discharged from her.

The scene which now presented itself was of a very different description, but still it was not without its alloy, and under any other circumstances might have excited feelings of despondency, instead of excess of joy. The ship lay a helpless wreck on the water, exposed to every surge of the sea, which had not subsided so rapidly as the wind, and which occasioned her to roll most awfully; and now, as she rose on the mountainous billow, every eye eagerly swept the horizon in search of the fleet, but all in vain, for not a ship could be seen; we therefore trembled for their fate. The bowsprit, fore-mast, mizen-mast, and main-top-mast, as before intimated, were all gone by the board, the whole of the live stock, (with a trifling exception,) consisting of 150 sheep, 30 pigs, 4 cows, 3 calves, 8 goats, and many hundred head of poultry, were washed over-board, or otherwise destroyed; nearly all the captain's stores, the medicine chest, and the seamen's chests, with their contents, were in the same predicament. After an anxious scrutiny of the charts, no friendly port was found to be within reach of us; the

nearest towards the east was Bencoolen, which, on account of the season of the year, was difficult of approach, and incapable of affording the relief we stood in need of. Towards the west was the Isle of France, then in possession of the French. To proceed direct to the Cape was an undertaking which, at the first blush of our situation, nobody conceived to be practicable. Still, upon a closer inspection of our resources, many difficulties were obviated, and our situation appeared to be far less desperate than we had at first imagined. Our stock of water and salt provisions, which was considerable, was happily found to be uninjured: we had rice and spirits in abundance. Our spare stock of spars, which was also considerable, and well secured before the storm commenced, was safe; we had spare sails, canvass, and cordage sufficient, and we knew our situation to be on the verge of the south-east trade-wind, which blew direct towards the Cape, and the season for entering Table Bay was favorable. After due deliberation at a meeting of the officers of the ship, and the principal passengers, it was unanimously resolved to undertake the voyage to the Cape; and, as an encouragement to the crew to give their spontaneous exertions in favor of this great undertaking, a subscription was immediately entered into, with a view to replace their chests, clothes, &c. which were lost in the storm. Seven hundred pounds were raised for this purpose in the course of a few minutes, (perhaps an unprecedented act of liberality,) which was no sooner communicated to the crew, than they gave three hearty cheers, and declared their readiness to perform every duty required of them; and never was a promise more strictly fulfilled however, in spite of the se but seldom paralleled exertions, we were eleven weeks in reaching the destined port, after suffering many privations. Still I consider this as one of the happiest periods of my life; and judging from the number of cheerful countenances, and the unanimity which reigned throughout the ship, I much doubt whether it were not the lot of every soul on board.

I cannot account for the fact, unless it was owing to the peculiar frame of mind which we had imbibed from our recent deliverance, -a frame of mind which philosophy would spurn at, but which religion might have hailed as the precursor of the only solid happiness desti ed for man.

The day of our arrival in Table Bay was one of intense excite

ment, anxious as we naturally were, to ascertain the fate of a fleet from which we had separated eleven weeks before under such unpropitious circumstances. This suspense, however, was of short duration; our worthy Commodore, with five of his convoy, were soon discovered to be safe at anchor in the Bay, the remaining three ships were missing, and, sad to tell, have never since been heard of. Of those which were safe, four, including the seventy-four gun-ship, had been in more or less danger of foundering in the storm, whilst two escaped without injury; owing, as it appeared from a comparison of Journals, to their having escaped the brunt of the storm by being cons derably to windward of the others; thus corroborating, the theory with which I commenced, in my endeavours to prove that where the storm begins there will it soonest end; a great part of the third day, which was by far the most tempestuous with us, these two ships lay perfectly becalmed.

Such were the disastrous effects of this memorable hurricane, from a summary of which I think myself entitled to draw the following practical inference; namely, that had we instantly attended to the timely warning of the Barometer, by bringing the ship to the wind, and making preparations for the storm, instead of scudding before it, until we could scud no longer, we should have escaped with as little injury as the two ships I have just alluded to, and that had the three unfortunate ships which foundered in the storm pursued a similar course, which it may be fairly presumed they did not, a very different fate might have befallen them too.

But, lest the fatal catastrophe of this hurricane should not be deemed sufficiently conclusive, I shall mention the result of another, no less fatal in its consequences, which was encountered in the following season by another fleet of Indiamen, nearly in the same latitude and longitude, whilst under convoy of the late Lord Exmouth. On this occasion four of the finest ships of the fleet, crowded with passengers from Calcutta, were supposed to have foundered, as they were missing immediately after the storm, and were never heard of more. The last time they were seen was by Lord Exmouth himself, when they were observed to be scudding before the gale, whilst the rest of the fleet were lying-to.

Here, then, we have another melancholy instance in point, which, coupled with the preceding, ought to satisfy the mind of the most sceptical seaman, as to the infallibility of the Barometer in indicating the approach of hurricanes, within the tropics more particalarly,

and consequently of the inestimable value of this instrument to every commander of a ship, and more especially to those whose destination is India.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant.

MERCURIUS.

V.-MEMORANDUM ON THE TIDES AT MADRAS, November 1821.

was greatest, on and imme

By Lieut. Col. De Havilland of the Madras Engineers. The results of the observations made on the tides at Madras by the means of a Tide Gauge near the north east angle of the glacis of the Fort from the 31st May to the 10th October 1821 inclusive, were as follows. That high water on the full and change of the Moon, was at 8h 58 or 9h. That on those days the difference of elevation of the surface of the sea at high and low water, was 2 feet 7 inches; that on the 4th days of the Moon's age, and the corresponding days after the full, this difference was 3 feet 53 inches the maximum and that the 2d days after the 1st and 3d quarters, it was reduced to 1 foot 7 inches the minimum. It was also observed, that the daily decrease diately before the 1st and 3d quarters, and the increase least, immediately after. It was likewise remarked, that the average level of the sea at mid-tide, or between high and low water, varied with the Phases of the Moon. That it appeared highest on the 3d days of the Moon's age, and the corresponding days after the full, and lowest on the 2d days after the 1st and 3d quarters-and the difference was observed to be about 1 foot 4 inches; but it is probable that this being so great, was owing to some anomaly, in the observations made on the 3d days of the Moon's age, and those corresponding after the full, and that in point of fact, it was not more than 1 foot. The following table contains the particular of these results. The retardation of the tides from day to day was considerably less for the first four or five days after full, and change than at any other time; it was then about 30 per diem.

Results of the observations made on the Tides at Madras from the 31st May to the 10th October 1821 by means of a Tide Gauge fixed near the north east angle of the Fort.

full and change 8

1st & 3d Qrts 12

10th and 24th 3

11th and 25th 4

12th and 26th 5

13th and 27th 6

It is necessary to notice that until the 29th of July the observations were frequently interrupted, but that after that date they were made daily, at every tide, in every 24 hours; and as there appears some difference in the results obtained from the subsequent period, they are given in the following statement.