ar, to the wild screams of the seabirds as they
skimmed o'er the steep acclivities of these moving masses. The landsmen
were evidently deeply impressed with the grandeur of a storm at sea; nor
can the hardiest seaman look with unconcern on such an exhibition of the
majesty of Him, whose will the winds and waves obey. Not more poetically
beautiful than literally true are the words of the Psalmist, so
appropriately introduced into the Form of Prayers at Sea--"They that go
down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters:
these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep: for at
his word the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth up the waves thereof." My
own experience has over and over again satisfied me, that, mingled with
many a dim superstition, a deep religious sentiment--a conviction of the
might and mercy of Heaven--often rests on the heart of the most reckless
seaman, himself all unconscious of its existence, yet strangely
influenced by its operations!

ANCHOR AT SIMON'S BAY.

We sighted land on the evening of the 20th of September, rounded the Cape
the next morning, and in the afternoon anchored in Simon's Bay. We found
here H.M.S. Thalia, bearing the flag of Admiral Sir Patrick Campbell,
Commander-in-chief of the Cape station: and during our subsequent stay
received every attention which kindness and courtesy could suggest, from
himself and his officers.

We were glad to ascertain that our chronometers had been performing
admirably. They gave the longitude of Simon's Bay, within a few seconds
of our homeward determination during the last voyage. Mr. Maclear, of the
Royal Observatory, and Captain Wauchope, of the flagship, had been
measuring the difference of longitude between Simon's Bay dockyard and
Cape Town Observatory, by flashing lights upon the summit of a mountain
midway between those two places. Their trials gave a greater difference,
by a half second, between the two meridians, than we had obtained on a
former visit by carrying chronometers to and fro. The results stand as
follow:

Mr. Maclear and Captain Wauchope: 11.5 seconds South.

H.M. Sloop Beagle: 11.0 seconds South.

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HARRIS.

We found at the Cape the renowned Captain Harris, H.E.I. Company's Bombay
Engineers, who had just returned from his sporting expedition into the
interior of Southern Africa, having made his way through every obstacle,
from the frontier of the Cape Colony, through t