196
EARTHQUAKES.
Report said two or three children were carried into the sea by the violence of the stream which rushed through the streets ; but upon further inquiry. I found, as is generally the case, report did not speak truth. It originated from an old woman, seeing some chickens (which had been brought to market for sail, with their legs tied together) floating down the stream, when she exclaimed, " Eh ! eh ! look de fowl pic'nee ;* he sure he go get drowned !" This travelled, and lost nothing by its peregrinations, until at length it became magnified into the loss of several children. In a very short time, all the ponds and cisterns in the island, which for so long a time had been perfectly dry, were filled to overflowing, and care and distress gave way to joy and thankfulness. About June, July, and August, Antigua is liable to be visited by storms of thunder, and lightning, and earthquakes. The lightning in this part of the globe is very vivid ; and the thunder bellows through the air in terrific peals, every hill and mountain reverberating the sound. Often have I seen the lightning playing down the spiral branches of the cocoa-nut trees, presenting a sublime but awful appearance. But although these storms are so violent, and consequently so harrowing to the feelings, they are nothing in comparison to the earthquakes with which we are sometimes visited. Every nerve is shaken by these terrible convulsions of nature ; the very brute creation seem to feel their influence. In April, 1690, Antigua suffered very severely from this cause. Nearly the whole town of St. John's was destroyed ; and the sugar-works upon the various plantations in the country almost all overthrown. In many parts of the island, the solid earth was rent open ; rocks were hurled from their places, and the very mountains defaced. The line of hills which skirts the harbour suffered from the concussion in a remarkable manner : one of them was rent completely in twain ; and now, after the lapse of so many years, presents the appearance of two heights, with a deep dingle running * " Pic'nee" is the negro term for children.