we saw it bursting the banks of the canals , sweeping away forests of gigantic trees , and swallowing cities and villages , leaving nothing but a broad expanse of swirling and eddying waters , which , in consequence of the prevailing red hue of the vegetation and the soil , looked , as shuddering we gazed down upon it , like an ocean of blood flecked with foam and steaming with the escaping life of the planet from whose veins it gushed .