A TORNADO.—BEFORE THE STORM.—THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.—AFTER THE STORM.
We had just returned to our camp in the forest. The day was intensely
warm; the rays of the sun poured down upon mother-earth with fearful
force; in the forest all was silent as death, for Nature herself seemed
prostrated.
We were in the season of the tornadoes—the latter part of the month of
March.
The light air that we had, had ceased. The horizon toward the north-east
grew black; at first a black spot had appeared only a little above the
horizon, then gradually rose higher and higher. The sight of this token
inspired awe. The wind was blowing from the opposite direction. The
white and fleecy clouds that were hanging in the atmosphere as they came
near the black spot gradually stopped, and were slowly absorbed into
black cloud.
I looked anxiously on. To a stranger the appearance of the sky showed
that a fearful storm was coming.
The birds began to fly in the air in a frightened manner; my goats began
to seek for shelter; the hens hid in the huts; the dogs also sought
shelter; and the people were returning in hot haste from the
plantations.
Every living thing seemed to know what was coming: even in the far
distance I could hear the roar of the gorilla.
The black spot gradually rose and formed a semicircle, while now and
then the distant sound of thunder came upon our ears, warning us of the
approaching storm.
At last not a breath of air could be detected, and in an instant a white
spot rose under the black horizon, and instantaneously scattered it into
a thousand clouds. How wild and lurid the sky suddenly appeared! In less
than two minutes it was one mass of blackness, the clouds fleeing with
terrible velocity, driven away by the white spot, which now increased to
huge dimensions. The tops of the trees began to sway rapidly, and before
we knew it the fearful wind was upon us. Our little houses were
unroofed, and the wind came with a violence that was quite appalling.
The limbs of the trees broke down first, then the trees themselves, and
as they fell each brought down half a dozen others with it, which in
falling occasioned a booming sound that resounded from hill to hill. The
monkeys became frightened, and their wild chattering indicated that they
were filled with terror. It was indeed a wild and terrible spectacle.
Flashes of lightning were followed by terrific claps of thunder. The
first clap brought me upon my feet, for I thought the lightning must
have struck some of us. I was almost blinded by the flash. What a
terrific report followed! It came on sudden and sharp like the firing of
a cannon, and made my ears ring and ring till I thought I should be
deafened.
[Illustration: A NIGHT STORM IN AFRICA.]
[Sidenote: _THUNDER AND LIGHTNING._]
This was followed by other terrific claps of thunder and flashes of
lightning which seemed to illuminate the whole sky, accompanied by a
pouring rain, a rain so dense that one might have fancied the skies to
have been rent in two. Finally the wind ceased, and, thank God! had only
lasted about ten minutes, though turning all round the compass. The
rain, thunder and lightning still continued. Such a storm I had seldom
witnessed even in this region of thunder and tornado. Wherever I turned,
the bright light in the skies met my eyes: from the West to the North,
from the North to the East, and from the East to the South.
The flashes of lightning were horizontal, of tremendous glare and
length, and zigzag; sometimes they were perpendicular. For hours and
hours the boom of thunder went on, fearful claps bursting from every
corner of the sky without intermission. There was scarcely a moment’s
interval between the reports. I took special pains to notice this fact.
The sound of the thunder seemed to come from all round the sky; the
whole of the heavens seemed to be a sea of fire. What could be more
sublime, in the whole domain of Nature, than this grand storm in these
equatorial regions of Africa? It was worth coming from our milder
climate to see it, to behold this war of the elements, to hear such
claps of thunder, to see such torrents of rain pouring down.
Though filled with awe and a dread of I did not know what, I looked on
till my eyes were almost blinded; I listened and listened until my ears
were deafened by the appalling noise of the thunder. I am certain that
no country can boast of more fearful thunder than these equatorial and
mountainous regions of Western Africa.
At last, after a few hours, the claps of thunder became less terrible,
and there were greater intervals between the flashes of lightning, which
began to diminish in brightness. Gradually the storm ceased, the clouds
disappeared, and the bluest of skies was disclosed overhead. What a deep
blue it was; how beautiful, how lovely, how pure, and how serene!
O God, how great thou art! I said to myself. What is man that thou
lookest down upon him? He is a creature of thy hands.
The stars shone with all their brightness. At that time of the year the
southern heaven was in its full beauty. All the constellations of the
Southern Hemisphere were in view, and the whole sky seemed to be in a
perfect blaze of light. How beautiful and resplendent the Milky Way
looked! Being not far from the equator, I could see also many of the
northern constellations.
The constellation of the Great Bear was in full sight, and reminded me
of my northern home, of dear friends, of joys that have gone, of
friendships which distance could not kill, of boys and girls I knew, and
I wondered if sometimes they thought of me as I thought of them.
I was wet through; for our fires had been extinguished and we had the
greatest trouble to light them again; and during the night nothing was
heard but the mournful cries of the owl and now and then the
disagreeable howl of the hyena.
[Illustration: [Fleuron]]
[Illustration: [Fleuron]]