urd
pachyderm "Jumbo." Of course, more or less, any agitation emanating
from home must in time reach Englishmen abroad; thus the "Jumbo" wave
visited these seas, and day after day, week after week, it was nothing
but "Jumbo." You would have thought the whole ship's company was
sickening for elephantiasis. Some funny fellow in the squadron noticing
this weakness, attached the name to our ship which, amongst the blue
jackets at least, has entirely supplanted the original one. But this by
the way.

Well, we reached Nagasaki without accident; coaled, and left for
Kobe,--south of Kiusiu--with a rattling breeze fair abaft. All went
smoothly until we arrived off Satano-Misaki, the southernmost point of
Kiusiu. The word "Satano," if it be, as is said, of Portuguese origin,
needs no comment. Here the fine breeze forsook us, and left us in a flat
and quite unexpected calm; for, generally speaking, in rounding this
cape the reverse of calms is met with. To make matters still more
unpleasant, a heavy ground swell began to set through the straits, and
the squadron having fires drawn at the time we all found ourselves in
the doldrums. Still, however, there was something of a current which had
its effect on the ships, so that it was impossible to keep in anything
like station. In this state of affairs the "Curacoa" drifted on top of
the "Daring," and cracked her up a bit, rendering extensive repairs to
her absolutely necessary. She was despatched on to Kobe for this
purpose.

After varying fortunes, now a calm--anon a gale, we arrived at Kobe on
June 3rd. This makes the sixth time during the commission we have
touched at this place, and strange coincidence! on fives times out of
the six we have anchored at noon, and have dined off that delightful
compound, pea-soup, on entering the harbour.

Meanwhile the admiral and the "Swift" are away in Corea, negociating a
treaty with that nation.

On reaching Yokohama we found our anticipated pleasures doomed to
disappointment; for that yearly visitant, cholera, was holding high
revel in the town, and doing pretty well just as it pleased.
Nevertheless, the admiral arrived the previous day, and gave leave to
the squadron until 9 p.m., with injunctions against visiting certain
localities.

A few days subsequently we were joined by the "Cleopatra," late of the
flying squadron, but detached at Suez for service on this station. The
"Comus," meanwhile, is about to leave for the Pacific to repla