ted up his voice in
continuous song. His repertoire was extensive and varied. To this day I
can clearly recall the words as well as the tune of two of his ditties.
One related to the history of a pair of corduroy breeches, year by
year, since the close of the last decade, each year being treated of in
a couplet. The first verse ran thus:

"In eighteen hundred and sixty-one
Those corduroy breeches were begun."

Eventually, in the then current year, 1867 "Those corduroy breeches
went up to heaven."

But they must have come down again, for it was prophetically, related
that, in 1868 "Those corduroy breeches lost their sate."

Following this came a lyric, having for its theme the pangs of despised
love and the faithlessness of the fair. Its refrain ran:

"Oh, surely the wimmin is worse than the min,
For they go to the Divil and come back agin."

Towards the afternoon the minstrel sank into slumber. To judge by the
expression of his face his dreams must have been happy ones.

The Asia was awaiting us at Falmouth. By the light of subsequent
experience I now know her to have been a very second-class craft even
for the sixties but to me then she was an Argo bound for a Colchis,
where a Golden Fleece awaited every seeker. There were a number of Cape
colonists on board. Among them may be mentioned Mr. and Mrs. "Varsy"
Van der Byl, the Rev. Mr. (now Canon) Woodrooffe and his wife, Mr.
Templar Horne who was afterwards Surveyor-General and Mr. D. Krynauw,
who still enjoys life in his comfortable home just off Wandel Street,
Cape Town. Mr. Krynauw added to the gaiety of the community by making
clever thumb-nail sketches of all and sundry. But Mr. Woodrooffe was
the life and soul of the ship. He seemed to have as many
accomplishments as the celebrated Father O'Flynn, with several more
thrown in.

Among his other acquirements Mr. Woodrooffe had an excellent knowledge
of chess; he was, in fact, by far the best player on board. I often
challenged him to play, but he considered a small boy such as I was to
be beneath his notice, so kept putting me off. However, one day I
happened to be sitting in the saloon, with the chessmen in their places
on the board, waiting for a victim. Mr. Woodrooffe chanced to come out
of his cabin, so I captured him. But no sooner had we begun to play
than two charming young ladies appeared and, one on each side, engaged
my opponent in a conversation which, naturally enough, was more
interesting than