kindly man, to judge from the little I
have seen of him, and, as Captain Holding assures me, an excellent
navigator. Poor Railton was dreadfully upset by the effects of his
clumsiness; although I dislike the man, I have not the heart to blame
him when I see the contrition upon his face.

"July 25th, midnight.--We buried Wilkins to-day. Captain Holding
read the burial service, and was much affected, for Wilkins was a
great friend of his; we then lowered the body into the sea. I spent
the evening with the Concanens, the captain being on deck and too
depressed to receive consolation. Nor was it much better with us in
the cabin. Although we tried to talk we were all depressed and
melancholy, and I retired earlier than usual to write my Journal.

"July 26th to August 4th.--There has been nothing to record.
The wind has been fair as yet throughout, though it dropped yesterday
(Aug. 3rd), and we lay for some hours in a dead calm. We have
recovered our spirits altogether by this time.

"August 5th.--One of our hands, Griffiths, fell overboard to-day and
was drowned. He and Colliver were out upon the fore-yard when
Griffiths slipped, and missing the deck, fell clear into the sea.
The captain was below at the time, but rushed upon deck on hearing
Colliver's alarm of 'Man overboard!' It was too late, however.
The vessel was making eight knots an hour at the time, and although
it was immediately put about, there was not the slightest hope of
finding the poor fellow. Indeed, we never saw him again."

[At this point the Journal becomes strangely meagre, consisting
almost entirely of disconnected jottings about the weather, while
here and there occurs merely a date with the latitude and longitude
entered opposite. Only two entries seem of any importance: one of
August 20th, noting that they had doubled the Cape, and a second
written two days later and running as follows:--]

"August 22nd.--Dr. Concanen came into my cabin early this morning and
told me that his wife had just given birth to a son. He seemed
prodigiously elated; and I congratulated him heartily, as this is the
first child born to them. He stayed but a moment or so with me, and
then went back to attend to his wife. I spent most of the day on
deck with Captain Holding, who is unceasingly vigilant now.
Wind continues steadily S.E."

[After this the record is again scanty, but among less important
entries we found the following:--]

"August 29th.--Mrs.