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ſouth; and in about an hour and half after that period, to general and perſevering were is accumulted effects, that it ſcarcely left a plantain tree, a cane, or building, uninjured in the parish. At about four o'clock, we found it, impoſſible to ſecure the houſe againſt the increaſing impetuoſity of the wind, which began to diſplace the ſhingles, uplift the roof, to force the windows, and to gain an entrance on every ſide: and its haſty deſtruction but too fully proved how ſoon, and how univerſally, it ſucceeded! We were now driven from the appartments above, to take ſhelter in the rooms below: but there we were followed by freſh dangers, and ſtupified by freſh alarms. The demon of deſtruction was waſted in the winds, and not a corner could eſcape its malignant devaſtation. While we were looking with apprehenſion and terror around us, the roof, rafters, plates, and walls of ſix apartments fell in, and immediately above our heads: and the horrid craſhes of glaſſes, furniture, and floors, occaſioned a noiſe and uproar, that may be more eaſily felt, than the weakneſs of my pen can poſſibly deſcribe.
I will not attempt (indeed my abilities and language are unequal to the talk) to awaken the ſenſibility of others, by dwelling upon private misfortune, when the loſſes of many are entitled to ſuprior regard: but egotiſm may be ſurley allowed in a narrative of this kind, where general compariſons muſt in ſome meaſure deſcribe individual ſufferings, and where what one has felt, has been the lot of numbers: and where a perſon has indenticall ſeen , and been involved in the ſame deſtruction, it is difficult to keep clear of expreſſions that do not immediately apply to, and ſpeak the language of, ſelf.
The ſituation of the unhappy negroes who poured
