Then
a swarm of big dragon-flies came like a cloud over us, and was gone in
an instant, and just as we reached the gate the first big drops
splashed down in the form of liquid mud. We had hardly got indoors
before the tempest broke in its full fury, a blackness as of night, a
blended uproar of thunder and wind, blinding flashes of lightning, and
torrents of rain. Then as the first thick darkness began to pass away,
we saw that the air was white with falling hailstones of an
extraordinary size and appearance. They were big as fowls' eggs, but
not egg-shaped: they were flat, and about half-an-inch thick, and
being white, looked like little blocks or bricklets made of compressed
snow. The hail continued falling until the earth was white with them,
and in spite of their great size they were driven by the furious wind
into drifts two or three feet deep against the walls of the buildings.
It was evening and growing dark when the storm ended, but the light
next morning revealed the damage we had suffered. Pumpkins, gourds,
and water-melons were cut to pieces, and most of the vegetables,
including the Indian corn, were destroyed. The fruit trees, too, had
suffered greatly. Forty or fifty sheep had been killed outright, and
hundreds more were so much hurt that for days they went limping about
or appeared stupefied from blows on the head.
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