JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. xxxix lantic, that a real island, if seen, would be very likely to pass, among the rest, as a fog-bank, while the prevailing winds generally confine vessels to one or the other of two courses, according as they are outward or homeward bound; so that, in fact, abundance of unexplored room still exists, and is likely to exist, in the southern Atlantic, for two or three such islands as this is represented to be. Captain Manning says that he always, if he finds himself at all near the supposed situation, keeps a good look-out. He says that all the older charts, particularly the Dutch, abound in islets, rocks, and shoals, the very existence of which is now more than doubtful. Some of these dangers he conceives to have been fog-banks, some to have been a repetition of those named elsewhere, but of which the site had been mistaken; others, however, he thinks, were pious frauds, inserted on purpose to make young mariners look about them. August 9.-This morning I saw, or thought I saw, a common white sea-gull, a bird in which I could hardly be mistaken, and which, in size and other respects, sufficiently differs from the Cape pigeons. It, however, rarely goes far from land, and is therefore considered as a presumption that Saxenberg really exists somewhere in the neighbourhood. Nor is this all; one of the crew saw this morning a piece of sea-weed, and two of the passengers a large crab, both equally strong evidences of such a vicinity. From that vicinity, however, we are fast proceeding; and this, if Saxenberg xl JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. exists, is probably all that we shall see of it. While such a topic, however, was under discussion, we almost overlooked, (what else would have drawn general attention,) that the first albatross which we have seen, made its appearance to-day, sailing majestically around us on its wide dusky wings, unquestionably one of the largest birds which I ever saw. During these last two nights the motion of the vessel was so violent as to throw my cot far beyond its usual bounds, against the cabin-lockers and chest of drawers. After several rude shocks of this kind, I unhooked and stretched it on the deck; but even there, the inclination of the ship was such, that I had some difficulty in keeping myself and my bed from parting company, and slipping or rolling to leeward. August 10.-Last night I again slept on the floor, and passed it still more uncomfortably than on former occasions, insomuch that I almost determined rather to run the risk of blows and bruises aloft, than to encounter the discomforts of the new method. This morning, however, the wind became again moderate, and I finished and preached my sermon, and, afterwards, administered the sacrament to about twenty-six or twenty-seven persons, including all the ladies on board, the captain, and the greater part of the under officers and male passengers, but, alas! only three seamen. This last result disappointed me, since I had hoped, from their attention to my sermons, and the general decency of their conduct and appearance, that more JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. would have attended. xli Yet, when I consider how great difficulty I have always found in bringing men of the same age and rank to the sacrament at Hodnet, perhaps I have no reason to be surprised. On talking with one of the under officers in the evening, he told me that more would have staid, if they had not felt shy, and been afraid of exciting the ridicule of their companions. The same feeling, I find, kept one at least, and perhaps more, of the young cadets and writers away, though of these there were only two or three absentees, the large majority joining in the ceremony with a seriousness which greatly pleased and impressed me. And the same may be said of all the midshipmen who were old enough to receive it. One of the young cadets expressed his regret to me that he had not been confirmed, but hoped that I should give him an opportunity soon after our arrival at Calcutta. On the whole, the result of the experiment, (for such it was considered,) has been most satisfactory; and I ought to be, and I hope am, very grateful for the attention which I receive, and the opportunities of doing good, which seem to be held out to me. I am the more so, because Mr. Bhad, a few days before, predicted that I should have not above one or two communicants at most; and added, as a sort of apology for himself, that he was brought up in the Church of Scotland, and therefore held all ceremonies superfluous and unavailing. I reminded him that his Church and mine agreed in the efficacy and necessity of occasionally receiving the Communion, but the conversa xlii JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. tion went no further. Possibly he meant that the forms required by the Church of England, where they differ from those of Scotland, were such as he did not approve of. If so, as I have reason to believe that many persons, both in Scotland and on. the Continent, have strange notions of our ceremonies, his having been an accidental spectator of them, (for he was on the poop all the time) may remove some of his prejudices. I observed, indeed, that many of the seamen, though they did not join us, looked on after they had left the quarter-deck with much seeming interest, and I almost hope, that if another opportunity occurs before our landing in Bengal, more will attend. Of the young men who did attend, I was happy to observe that they had all religious books in their hands in the course of the evening, and that they appeared, indeed, much impressed. How different is the treatment which I meet with in the exercise of my duties on ship-board from that of which Martyn' complains! A great change, indeed, as every body tells me, has, since his time, occurred in the system of a sea life. Most 1 Henry Martyn went out to India, as Chaplain on the Bengal Establishment, in the year 1805. He translated the Testament and Book of Common Prayer into Hindoostanee; and on finding that the existing translation of the former into Persian was unfit for general use, he undertook a journey into Persia, and, with the assistance of some intelligent natives, completed a new version of the Testament, and also translated the Psalms into that language. He died at Tocat, on his return to England, in the year 1812. A memoir of his life, with his journal, has been published by the Reverend John Sargent.-ED. JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. xliii commanders of vessels are now anxious to keep up, at least, the appearance of religion among their men; and, in many cases, the danger is said to be, not from neglect, but fanaticism. To this the custom (which is now extremely common both in the navy and the merchant service,) of prayer-meeting's among the crew, where each, in turn, delivers an extempore address to the Almighty, must greatly contribute; and I hardly know whether a custom, (however well meant, and however comfortable, and often most edifying to men thrown into close contact with each other, surrounded by dangers and hardships, and removed from all regular ministry of the Gospel,) has not these benefits counterbalanced, by the self-conceit, the enthusiasm, and divisions in faith and doctrine which may arise from it. Yet the practice, after all, is oné, which none could venture to forbid, and the dangers of which may be materially abated by supplying these good men with some better guides to devotion than their own extemporaneous invention-and, still more, by a regular performance of Divine service according to the English Liturgy, wherever, and whenever this is possible. On board the Grenville, though the men are extremely orderly, no prayer-meetings have been yet thought of, nor, for the reasons which I have mentioned, do I wish for them. The men, however, are extremely well supplied with bibles, prayer-books, and religious tracts, which many of them read aloud to their less educated messmates every evening. The boys sent by the Marine Society have regular instruction in the |