Though only about 4 p.m., it got peculiarly dark and a strong gale began to blow, and distant sounds of thunder were heard.  A sudden lull came, which meant that the storm was about to break; sheets of lightning of every description were followed by deafening peals of thunder, which made man and beast tremble.  Then there came a downfall of huge hailstones; they were just like big lumps of jagged ice; some of them measured about six to eight inches round and weighed over half a pound.  This storm did a fearful lot of harm; not a leaf was left on a single tree, and hundreds of birds lay dead all around.  Though very violent, this hailstorm did not last more than ten minutes, in which time an incalculable amount of destruction took place.

In September, 1909, a very bad cyclone suddenly came on us.  The sky turned black and blacker, and the clouds looked horribly wicked.  Suddenly a terrific gale got up, which caused every window and door to rattle in a most alarming manner, though they had all been as well secured as possible.  The dust seemed to filter in just the same, and in five minutes the house was an inch thick in it.  We heard a loud bang and then another over our heads, and on looking out of a window we saw the roof of one of the outer buildings lying on the ground; part of it had been blown over our house and had carried away the chimney, a big iron one, on its way.  We were told afterwards that the cook had had to use all her force against the kitchen window to keep it from bursting open, as, if the wind had got in, it would have carried away that roof as well.  This hurricane lasted for about an hour and a-half; as soon as it had abated somewhat we went out to see the result.  Everywhere reigned havoc and confusion, the whole place looked an old ruin, brick-bats, tiles, broken branches, loose sheets of corrugated iron lying all around; three roofs had been blown away, several windmills knocked down and carried 100 yards away, and lovely old trees had been completely uprooted.

The natives, frightened of remaining in their own quarters, had, in their terror, deserted them and taken refuge, with their wives and children, in the open camp, where they fondly imagined they were safer.  Out in the camp the roofs of most of the “puestos,” or huts, had been also carried away, leaving the occupants exposed to the cold rains and winds which followed.

A peculiar feature of this storm was that it was not at all general; at the neighbouring “estancias” it was not felt at all, and some of the “peons,” who were riding in the camp at the time, said they could see this whirlwind coming a long way off at a tremendous rate and that it looked like a column of red smoke; they could not feel the effects of the wind either, although they were not more than half a mile away.

This storm was followed by very heavy rains which lasted for about ten days, during which our house was flooded, as the wind had lifted the tiles and the rain was driven in through every possible place.