Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 23.12

23.12

The night of the fifth day was altogether dreadful and perilous. A storm arose so violent, that although we were, as we thought, in excellent shelter under trees, and our boat carefully fastened, yet our cable was broken, and we should have been driven into the main channel, there inevitably to perish, if I and my two Portuguese had not, by a sudden and spontaneous movement, entwined our arms round the branches of trees, which we held tightly for the space of two hours, while the tempest was raging with unabated force. No assistance was to be expected from my Indian boatmen, whose fears completely overcame them. Our situation while clinging for our lives to the trees was indeed most painful; the rain fell as if poured into the boat from buckets, and the lightning and thunder were so vivid and loud, and so near our heads, that we despaired of surviving this horrible night. Nothing, however, could be more pleasant than the remainder of the voyage. We arrived at Ogouly on the ninth day, and my eyes seemed never sated with gazing on the delightful country through which we passed. My trunk, however, and all my wearing-apparel were wet, the poultry dead, the fish spoilt, and the whole of my biscuits soaked with rain.