Such is the laconic language in which the governor reported the disaster.  Farther north, Santo Domingo, St. Vincent, St. Eustatius, and Puerto Rico were devastated, and most of the vessels that were sailing in the track of the cyclone were lost with all on board.  Beyond Puerto Rico the tempest turned northeast toward Bermuda, and though its violence gradually decreased, it nevertheless sunk several English vessels.  This hurricane was quite as destructive inland.  Nine thousand persons perished in Martinique, and 1,000 in St. Pierre, where not a single house was left standing, for the sea rose to a height of 25 feet, and 150 houses that were built along the shore were engulfed.  At Port Royal the cathedral, 7 churches, and 1,400 houses were blown down; 1,600 sick and wounded were buried beneath the ruins of the hospital.  At St. Eustatius, 7 vessels were dashed to pieces on the rocks, and of the 19 which lifted their anchors and went out to sea, only 1 returned.  At St. Lucia the strongest buildings were torn up from their foundations, a cannon was hurled a distance of more than 30 yards, and men as well as animals were lifted off their feet and carried several yards.  The sea rose so high that it destroyed the fort and drove a vessel against the hospital with such force as to stave in the walls of that building.  Of the 600 houses at Kingston, on the island of St. Vincent, 14 alone remained intact, and the French frigate Junon was lost.  Alarming consequences were feared from the number of dead bodies which lay uninterred, and the quantity of fish the sea threw up, but these alarms soon subsided....”

“The aboriginal inhabitants,” says Abbad, “foresaw these catastrophes two or three days in advance.  They were sure of their approach when they perceived a hazy atmosphere, the red aspect of the sun, a dull, rumbling, subterranean sound, the stars shining through a kind of mist which made them look larger, the nor’west horizon heavily clouded, a strong-smelling emanation from the sea, a heavy swell with calm weather, and sudden changes of the wind from east to west.”  The Spanish settlers also learned to foretell the approach of a hurricane by the sulphurous exhalations of the earth, but especially by the incessant neighing of horses, bellowing of cattle, and general restlessness of these animals, who seem to acquire a presentiment of the coming danger.

“The physical features of hurricanes are well understood.  The approach of a hurricane is usually indicated by a long swell on the ocean, propagated to great distances, and forewarning the observer by two or three days.  A faint rise in the barometer occurs before the gradual fall, which becomes very pronounced at the center.  Fine wisps of cirrus-clouds are first seen, which surround the center to a distance of 200 miles; the air is calm and sultry, but this is gradually supplanted by a gentle breeze, and later the wind increases to a gale, the clouds become matted, the sea rough, rain falls, and the winds are gusty