xxvi JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. July 4.-The gale and tossing continued all the forenoon; complaints of sleeplessness, broken heads and shins, were universal; and we were only comforted by the assurance that we had seen, probably, the worst of the ship's rolling, and that, even off the Cape of Good Hope, nothing more than this was reasonably to be apprehended. Our progress too was very cheering. Our run during the last twenty-four hours was computed at 200 miles, and our latitude at twelve was 31° 10'. July 5.-Nothing very material occurred this day, excepting that some flying-fish began to be seen round us, but of so small a sort, that, though they were numerous, it was a long time before I could distinguish them from the spray among which they fluttered. July 6.-We had Divine Service, and I read a sermon on the Epistle for the day'. I did not feel quite sure whether the subject were too difficult for the major part of my audience or no. But I thought its discussion might, at all events, be serviceable to the educated part of my hearers, and I did not despair of making myself understood by the crew. I am inclined to hope that I succeeded with many of them. All were very attentive, and the petty officers, more particularly, heard me with great apparent interest. I am, on the whole, more and more confirmed in the opinion which Horsley has expressed in one of his Sermons, that a theo'Sixth Sunday after Trinity. JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. xxvii logical argument, clearly stated, and stated in terms derived from the ancient English language exclusively, will generally be both intelligible and interesting to the lower classes. They do not want acuteness or the power of attending; it is their vocabulary only which is confined, and if we address them in such words as they understand, we may tell them what truths we please, and reason with them as subtilely as we can. The flying-fish to day were more numerous and lively. They rose in whole flights to the right and left of the bow, flying off in different directions, as if the vast body of the ship alarmed and disturbed them. Others, however, at a greater distance, kept rising and falling without any visible cause, and, apparently, in the gladness of their hearts, and in order to enjoy the sunshine and the temporary change of element. Certainly there was no appearance or probability of any larger fish being in pursuit of even one hundredth part of those which we saw, nor were there any birds to endanger their flight; and those writers who describe the life of these animals as a constant succession of alarms, and rendered miserable by fear, have never, I conceive, seen them in their mirth, or considered those natural feelings of health and hilarity which seem to lead all creatures to exert, in mere lightness of heart, whatever bodily powers the Creator has given them. It would be just as reasonable to say that a lamb leaps in a meadow for fear of being bitten by serpents, or that a horse gallops round xxviii JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. his pasture only because a wolf is at his heels, as to infer from the flight of these animals that they are always pursued by the bonito. July 8.-The sun was now fairly to the north of us, and our trade-wind, though light, was steady. One of the sailors, a lad about seventeen, was accused of having, in wanton cruelty, stabbed and cut a sheep so severely that it bled to death. He had been cleaning knives near the sheep-pen, and the animal was found in this condition shortly after. He protested his innocence, and said the sheep had thrown down a board on which the knives were laid. This story was a lame one; but, with a very praise-worthy moderation, Captain Manning merely ordered him for the present into confinement, till the business could be more accurately inquired into. It is, he says, his general rule, and the rule of most captains in the Company's service, never to punish without a regular trial, or without some pause intervening between the accusation and the enquiry. July 9.-The boy's trial came on, but he was discharged for want of sufficient evidence, with a suitable admonition. The day was fine. We were on deck the greater part of the morning, having transferred our Hindoostanee lecture thither. Our course continues south-west; our latitude 20°. 57'. longitude 24°. 32. The favourable breeze almost became a gale towards night; but we had less rolling than on former occasions. JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. xxix July 11.-A flying-fish fell on deck this morning, and I examined it with much interest. The form and colours are not unlike a herring's, with the addition of the two long filmy fins which support the animal in its short flights. This, however, was, as we were assured, a very small specimen, not exceeding the size of a small sparling or smelt. July 13.-We had divine service on deck this morning. A large shoal of dolphins were playing round the ship, and I thought it right to interfere to check the harpoons and fishing-hooks of some of the crew. I am not strict in my notions of what is called the Christian Sabbath; but the wanton destruction of animal life seems to be precisely one of those works by which the sanctity and charity of our weekly feast would be profaned. The seamen took my reproof in good part, and left the mizen chains where they had been previously watching for their prey. I trust that they will have other and better opportunities of amusement; this was a truly torrid day. July 15.-A hot and close day, with much swell and little or no wind. The sails flapped dismally; the foretop sail was split; and I saw with interest the dexterity of the sail-maker in repairing the damage without unbinding it from the yard. The evening was such as to portend both rain and wind, and one of the men at the helm said that "he hoped it would blow its hardest," so weary were XXX JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. the sailors of this dull and uninteresting weather. Lat. 9°. 50'. In the course of this day some of the seamen went round to solicit subscriptions from those who had not yet passed the line. They shewed considerable anxiety for any decayed finery which the ladies might supply them with, as decorations for Amphitrite; and I was amused to learn that they had a copy of Took's Pantheon, which they were diligently consulting in order to make their costume as like as possible to the authentic dress and equipment of the classical Neptune and his family. July 18.-The night was very blustering and rainy, and the motion of the vessel unpleasant. Our progress, however, continued rapid, and the wind favourable, A sail was, about ten, seen a-head, steering the same course with ourselves. On nearing her she shewed Danish colours. Captain Manning expressed some little surprise at this meeting. The Danish flag, he said, was almost unknown in India, whither, apparently, this vessel was bound. The Danes have indeed a nominal factory, and a Consul at Serampore; but what little commerce is carried on is in the ships of other nations. In the harbour of Calcutta (and no large vessels mount so high as Serampore) he had never seen the Danish flag. This seems strange, considering how long the Danes have been in possession not only of Serampore, but of Tranquebar. The Swedish flag, he said, was never seen in the Indian seas. I have been pleased, in my different conversations with |