the tops of the waves, as they foamed and
hissed past. The rain fell fast on the bare heads of the crew,
dropping also on the officers during all the ceremony, from the foot
of the mainsail, and wetting the leaves of the prayer-book. The wind
sighed over us amongst the wet shrouds, with a note so mournful,
that there could not have been a more appropriate dirge.

"'The ship pitching violently, strained and cracked from end to end;
so that, what with the noise of the sea, the rattling of the ropes,
and the whistling of the wind, hardly one word of the service could
be distinguished. The men, however, understood by a motion of the
captain's hand, when the time came, and the body of our dear little
brother was committed to the deep.

"'So violent a squall was sweeping past the ship at this moment that
no sound was heard of the usual splash, which made the sailors
(naturally superstitious) allege, that their young favorite never
touched the water at all, but was at once carried off in the gale to
his final resting-place!'"

GEORGE. "Oh! how very melancholy. It seems much more dismal to be
buried in the sea than on the land:

"'For the dead should lie in the churchyard green,
Where the pleasant flowers do spring.'"

EMMA. "I shall be grateful to Captain Hall if his pathetic
description of the funeral of 'Dolly' checks your desire to become a
sailor, George; for I cannot bear to think of it. We are now to sail
along the coast of South America, and the first gulfs in the north
of this coast are the gulfs of Maracaybo, Coro, Trieste, and Paria,
by the island of Trinidad, where----"

CHARLES. "Stop! stop! Emma. Out of four gulfs there must be
something to be had worth fishing for, is there not?"

MR. BARRAUD. "You may fish for melancholy in the Gulf of Trieste,
Charles, if you are so disposed, for it is a dreadful place. Here,
in the midst of furious waves, enormous rocks raise their isolated
heads, and scarcely, even with a fair wind, can ships overcome the
strength of the stream."

CHARLES. "We will not angle in _that_ gulf; but I have fished up an
island in Maracaybo, or Venezuela Gulf. It is called Curacoa, and is
arid and sterile. There is very little water, and only one well in
the island, and the water is sold at a high price. Its capital is
Williamstadt, one of the neatest cities in the West Indies."

MRS. WILTON. "The entrance to the Gulf of Paria on the north side is
called Dragon's Mouth, on the south,