The happy mansions of Elysium by degrees seemed to be
wafted from me, and the very traces of my late waking thoughts began to
fade away, when I was cast by a sudden whirlwind upon an island,
encompassed with a roaring and troubled sea, which shaked its very
centre, and rocked its inhabitants as in a cradle. The islanders lay on
their faces, without offering to look up, or hope for preservation; all
her harbours were crowded with mariners, and tall vessels of war lay in
danger of being driven to pieces on her shores. "Bless me!" said I, "why
have I lived in such a manner that the convulsion of nature should be so
terrible to me, when I feel in myself, that the better part of me is to
survive it? Oh! may that be in happiness." A sudden shriek, in which the
whole people on their faces joined, interrupted my soliloquy, and turned
my eyes and attention to the object which had given us that sudden
start, in the midst of an inconsolable and speechless affliction.
Immediately the winds grew calm, the waves subsided, and the people
stood up, turning their faces upon a magnificent pile in the midst of
the island.
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