It was impossible to traverse the streets inundated with water. The sand raised from the beach was formed into sand-whirlwinds, which reached to a great altitude, and, breaking, descended with the torrents of rain invading every place; the houses themselves, even those most solidly built, trembled from the impetuous violence of the wind, and shook everything contained in them. The rain deluged the houses; many trees, and some of them gigantic, lost their limbs, which were carried great distances; others, on which the first Portuguese voyagers had looked with admiration for their enormous size, were now uprooted from their mother earth, and laid beside their companions.
The shrubs and plants looked as if they had been burned by the fury of the wind; not a garden escaped the ravages of this fearful storm.
All these direful events, heightened by the shrieks of the unfortunate, which, at intervals, added to the howling and hissing of the wind, increased the terror and consternation of the inhabitants of this doomed city. Many huts were swept away by the wind; others, as fragile, being saved by the fact of their being almost buried by the sand which the sea and wind drove over the island. But if this was the terror and suffering in the city, how much greater damage did the tempest cause in the harbour!
There the horrors of the tempest were increased by the fury of the sea, the fragileness of the vessels, the frightful darkness of the night, and the absolute impossibility of help from any quarter.
After the illusive calm already described, when the wind changed suddenly to the N.W., just previous to midnight, the dhows commenced to get foul of each other. Immediately all was disorder, confusion, and terror. Some dhows were capsized; others were dashed to pieces on the beach, or crumpled up among the rocks. In the middle of this sad disorder were heard the despairing cries of the wretched sailors, calling for help, and raising their hands to the Almighty to save them. To hear the piercing cries of those men, child-like in the depth of their despair, was heart-rending, but to witness their struggles when cast upon the beach, and they came nigh being dashed against the rocks, without being able to assist them, was horrible.
The numerous wrecks subsequently encountered on the shore of the island of Mozambique attested, at the same time, the violence of the tempest and the extent of this direful catastrophe. Sad to relate, among the debris of the wrecks and cargoes on the beach, numerous corpses were met with.
The ship “Adamastor,” the barque “Charles et Georges,” and the brig “Amisade,” were the only vessels at anchor in Mozambique that escaped.
The French schooner of war, “l’Aigle,” was only saved by her anchors holding until 11 P.M.; she appeared to be anchored too close to the beach; after that time she went on shore in consequence of two dhows drifting on top of her, from whose crews she succeeded in saving fourteen persons. She parted her anchor, lost her rudder, and was otherwise injured, but the solidity of her construction prevented her making water, and after the hurricane she was got afloat again.
The schooner belonging to the Portuguese government, called the “19 de Maio,” was thrown on the Conducia or north shore of the harbour, with little damage to her hull; as was likewise a dhow sent from Ibo, and detained at this port for having four sea-pieces on board, which suffered no damage. The brigs “2 Irmaõs,” “Nostra Señhor do Soccorro,” and “Flor do Mar,” were beached, and more or less injured. On the mainland the hurricane destroyed houses, swept away huts, uprooted gigantic trees, killed many negroes and cattle, and levelled with the ground many palm-trees, and in some places whole plantations of cocoa-nut trees, each tree producing annually nuts to the value of three shillings.