very fast; but I enjoyed
the novel scene the next day, and passed all my time on deck, watching
the sailors and the passengers, and noticing the difference between
Englishmen and Americans.

On Sunday it was very cold, and the wind, still contrary, rose higher
and higher; it was impossible to set any sail, but I still kept on
deck, and thus avoided sickness. Soon after breakfast I saw a white
foam rising in different places occasionally, and was told that it was
whales spouting; I saw a great number, and enjoyed it highly. Presently
some one called out, "An iceberg!" and, far off against the sky, I saw
this floating wonder. It was very beautiful; such a dazzling white, so
calm and majestic, and so lonely; it was shaped, as I thought, like an
old cathedral, but others thought like a sleeping lion, taking what I
called the ruined tower for his head and mane.

Soon after this, the man on the lookout cried, "Steamship America;" and
in a few moments more we saw her coming swiftly towards us with her
sails all set, for the wind was fair for her. Captain Leitch then told
me that he should stop his vessel and send a boat on board, and that he
would send a letter by it if I would write one quickly; to others he
said the same thing. In a moment the deck was cleared, and in a few
more moments all had returned with their letters; and never was there a
more beautiful sight than these two fine steamers manoeuvring to stop
at a respectful distance from each other; then our little boat was
lowered, and O, how pretty it was to see her dancing over the rough
waves to the other steamer! We sent to the America the sad news of the
loss of the Kestrel. After what seemed to us a long time, the boat
returned and brought papers, &c., but no important news; and in a few
moments the two steamers courtesied to each other, and each went on her
way.

After six days, the waves had risen to a terrible height; the wind was
all but a gale; the ocean, as far as one could see, was one roaring
foam; one after another the angry billows rose to the height of twenty
or thirty feet, and rolled on, curling over their green sides, and then
broke with a voice of thunder against our vessel.

I crawled out of the cabin, assisted by two gentlemen, and from the
lower deck saw the sublime commotion over the bulwarks, when the ship
rolled over on the side where I was sitting. The sea broke over our
vessel repeatedly; it went over the top of the smoke pipe, and str