During the night of the 21st to the 22nd of April we were overtaken
by a sudden and violent storm, accompanied by heavy thunder; this
storm our captain termed a thunder-gust. While it lasted flashes of
lightning frequently played around the mast-top, occasioned by
electricity. They generally flutter for two or three minutes about
the most elevated point of any object, and then disappear.
The night of the 22nd to the 23rd of April was a very dangerous one;
even the captain said so. We had to pass several of the low islands
in dark rainy weather, which completely concealed the moon from us.
About midnight our position was rendered worse by the springing up
of a strong wind, which, together with incessant flashes of
lightning, caused us to expect another squall; luckily, however,
morning broke, and we escaped both the storm and the islands.
In the course of the day we passed the Bice Islands, and two days
later, on the 25th of April, we beheld one of the Society Islands,
Maithia.
On the following morning, being the thirty-ninth of our voyage, we
came in sight of Tahiti, and the island opposite to it, Emao, also
called Moreo.
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