On the following day, the first of March, we left the island, about half-past five o’clock in the evening, and had not been gone an hour before the sky towards the N.E. became darkened with a mass of black clouds, the sure harbinger of a coming storm. We were then nearly in the middle of the river, which was about a league broad; and as the storm was approaching with great rapidity, the master of the canoe gave instant orders to run her in to the north shore, but before we had reached the distance, we were overtaken by a gust of wind which laid her nearly on her broadside. A considerable quantity of water was shipped, and the crew lost all command of themselves, one crying to do this, and another that, without anything being done. The lower part of the sail on the lee side was in the water keeping the edge of the canoe down, and had it not been for my exertions and my man Pedro’s assistance, in seizing hold of the rope by which the extreme point of the long boom is drawn up to the mast head, and thus raising it out of the water, the canoe, to a certainty, would have filled, and we should all have been inevitably drowned. Still we were at some distance from the river bank, and the storm was setting in with all its fury, the waves were dashing over the weather gunnel, while the lee side was taking in great quantities of water. In the meantime the sails had been stowed away, and seeing the danger of keeping her broadside any longer to the wind, the master gave orders to run her over to the other side of the river before the wind. We thus steered in an oblique direction nearly three miles before we reached the south side, and during this fearful interval the wind, the rain, thunder and lightning were such as I had never before been exposed to. It was now quite dark, but the vivid flashes both of forked and sheet lightning gave a light, from time to time, as brilliant nearly as noon-day. The canoe ran aground among some small trees to two of which she was made fast; the rain continued to fall in torrents for nearly two hours, and from our unavoidable exposure to its influence we were all drenched to the skin. When the storm had entirely exhausted itself, we found that the wind had died away also, and as we could not resume our voyage, we determined to return with the current to the island of San Pedro. This we accordingly did, and had to remain in our wet clothes during the greater part of the night. In going down I observed a number of large meteors passing from the N.E. to the S.W. following the course of the storm.