In the country and in the mines nothing has remained
standing. Everybody is ruined and thinking of going away."
_1537_.--July and August. The town officers wrote to the king in
September: "In the last two months we have had three storms of wind
and rain, the greatest that have been seen in this island, and as the
plantations are along the banks of the rivers the floods have
destroyed them all. Many slaves and cattle have been drowned, and this
has caused much discouragement among the settlers, who before were
inclined to go away, and are now more so."
_1575_.--September 21 (San Mateo), hurricane mentioned in the memoirs
of Father Torres Vargas.
_1614_.--September 12, mentioned by the same chronicler in the
following words: "Fray Pedro de Solier came to his bishopric in the
year 1615, the same in which a great tempest occurred, after more than
forty years since the one called of San Mateo. This one happened on
the 12th of September. It did so much damage to the cathedral that it
was necessary partly to cover it with straw and write to his Majesty
asking for a donation to repair it. With his accustomed generosity he
gave 4,000 ducats."
_1678_.--Abbad states that a certain Count or Duke Estren, an English
commander, with a fleet of 22 ships and a body of landing troops
appeared before San Juan and demanded its surrender, but that, before
the English had time to land, a violent hurricane occurred which
stranded every one of the British ships on Bird Island.
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