king after the weak points of the rigging, all concerning which came
within his special province as boatswain.

After tea, all hands were allowed to skylark about the decks below and
aloft until the end of the second dog-watch at "eight bells;" when, the
night being fairly on us in the southern latitudes we were traversing,
those whose turn it was to go below turned in, and the others having the
"first watch" took the deck until they were relieved at midnight and
retired to their well earned rest. But, of course, should "all hands"
be called to take in sail, on account of the wind shifting or a sudden
squall breaking over the ship, which fortunately did not happen at the
time of which I am speaking, those who might only have just turned in
had to turn out again instanter. In the same way, I may add, had the
weather been stormy and changeable all of us would have had plenty to do
in taking in and setting sail, without leisure for sennit reeving and
yarn spinning and playing "Tom Cox's traverse" about the decks from
morning till night, as we did in those halcyon days between the tropics.

We sighted Martin Vas Rocks, to the eastward of Trinidad Islands, in
latitude 20 degrees 29 minutes south and longitude 28 degrees 51 minutes
west, a little over a week from our leaving the Line, having made a very
good passage so far from England, this being our thirty-sixth day out.

Soon after this, the south-east trades failing us and varying westerly
breezes taking their place, we hauled our wind, altering our course to
south-east by south, and making to pass the meridian on the forty-
seventh parallel of latitude. This we did so as to get well to the
southward of the Cape of Good Hope, between which and ourselves a long
stretch of some three thousand miles of water lay; although both Captain
Gillespie and Mr Mackay appeared to make nothing of this, looking upon
it as the easiest part of our journey.

Indeed, the latter told me so.

"Now, it's all plain sailing, my boy, and we ought to run that distance
in a fortnight or so from here, with the strong westerly and sou'-
western winds we'll soon fetch into on this tack," said he; "but, wait
till we come to the region of the Flying Dutchman's Cape, and then
you'll make acquaintance with a sea such as you have never seen before,
all that we've gone through as yet being merely child's play in
comparison."

"What, worse than the Bay of Biscay?" I cried.

"Why, that was only a f