xlviii JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. cumstances, as to make her superior progress no cause of wonder. I am glad of this on all accounts, as it not only expedites our voyage, but makes our kind-hearted Captain completely happy. The weather continues beautiful. On returning to the Grenville I saw my little girl at one of the cabin windows, who shewed great delight in recognizing me. She had been much distressed at seeing me go off in the boat, and twice began crying. All this, which, I trust, may be considered as indications both of intelligence and affection, interests me so much that I cannot help writing it down, in the hope that I may read it with increased interest and pleasure one day when her matured good qualities may fulfil the present hopes of her parents, and give those parents a daily increasing motive for gratitude to Him who has lent her to them. Dear little thing! I did not suppose, before I possessed her, how closely a child of her age can entwine itself round the heart. I have been reading Hindoostanee to myself, and this morning finished the following translation of one of the poems in Gilchrist's Hindoostanee Guide. From his Paraphrase, I cannot say I derived any great assistance. I have, however, endeavoured to be more faithful than he has been, though the "ruhe ruhe" of the original is, I admit, untranslateable, and only to be imitated afar off JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. xlix SONNET BY THE LATE NAWAB OF OUDE, ASUF UD DOWLA. In those eyes the tears that glisten as in pity for my pain, Why thy strength of tyrant beauty thus, with seeming ruth, restrain? Better breathe my last before thee, than in lingering grief remain ! To yon Planet, Fate has given every month to wax and wane; Health and youth in balmy moisture on thy cheek their seat maintain; But-the dew that steeps the rose-bud-can it, will it long remain? Asuf! why in mournful numbers, of thine absence thus complain, Chance had joined us, chance has parted !—nought on earth can long remain. In the world mayst thou, beloved! live exempt from grief and pain! On my lips the breath is fleeting,-can it, will it long remain ? August 17.-Read prayers and preached. The sea was too high to allow the men to sit down, or the awning to be hoisted, and it was extremely cold, a thorough English March morning. Our run since yesterday has been 234 miles. Lat. 35° 23'. E. long. 11. 6. August 18.-The same breeze, which has now encreased to what seamen call a strong gale, with a high rolling sea from the south-west. Both yesterday and to-day we have had the opportunity of seeing no insufficient specimen of those gigantic waves of which I have often heard as prevailing in these latitudes. In a weaker vessel, and with less 1 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. confidence in our officers and crew, they would be alarming as well as aweful and sublime. But, in our case, seen as they are from a strong and wellfound ship, in fine clear weather, and with good sea room, they constitute a magnificent spectacle, which may be contemplated with unmixed pleasure. I have hardly been able to leave the deck so much have I enjoyed it, and my wife, who happily now feels very little inconvenience from the motion, has expressed the same feelings. The deep blue of the sea, the snow-white tops of the waves, their enormous sweep, the alternate sinking and rising of the ship which seems like a play-thing in a giant's hands, and the vast multitude of sea-birds skimming round us, constitute a picture of the most exhilarating, as well as the most impressive character; and I trust a better and a holier feeling has not been absent from our minds, of thankfulness to Him who has thus far protected us, who blesses us daily with so many comforts beyond what might be expected in our present situation, and who has given us a passage, throughout the whole extent of the Atlantic, so unusually rapid and favourable. The birds which surround us are albatrosses, and snowpeterels. The Cape pigeons have disappeared, being probably driven to shore by the gale. The other birds come from the southward, and are considered as indications of a tremendous storm in that quarter, from which our unusually northern course has exempted us. Lat. 34° 54' E. long. 15° 30′. This day ends the ninth week of our abode on board the Grenville. JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. li August 19.-During the night we made considerable southing, and passed the Cape. In the evening we had a distant but tolerably distinct view of the Cape Aguillas or Lagullos, the most southerly promontory of Africa. Our wind is now lighter, but the swell still great; such a swell, (and indeed much more, all things considered, than we now feel), is to be expected on the banks of Lagullos, a range of submarine mountains, of extent not yet ascertained, which project from the foot of Southern Africa, like a vast buttress to support it against the invasions of the Antarctic Ocean. The depth of water is considerable in every part of the bank, and consequently fish are scarce at any distance from shore. In the creeks and bays of the visible coast they are said to swarm. And thus we are in the Indian Ocean! August 20-23.-We have been these four days beating to and fro on the bank of Lagullos, with a contrary wind or no wind at all, alternately, suffering a good deal from the motion of the vessel. On the 22nd we were on the supposed position of the Telemaque shoal, when a boy at the mast-head cried out, "breakers." They turned out, however, to be only the reflection of the sun on the waves. So that the existence or situation of this danger is still as dubious as ever. August 24.-A southern breeze sprung up this morning, and we have begun our progress eastward anew, though at present inclining much towards lii JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. the south, where Captain Manning hopes to find the wind more settled. We had prayers and a sermon, but the weather was, as on last Sunday, too unsettled to permit the men to sit down, or the awning to be extended. The breeze has, however, put all the party into much better spirits, and considering the degree in which we have been previously favoured, a four or five days delay here is a trifling draw-back. August 30.-Alas! our flattering breeze left us in a few hours, and from Monday till Thursday, we had very little wind, and that adverse; yet we did not remain absolutely stationary, having got into a powerful, and, hitherto, little known current, from the S. W. which forwarded us on our voyage almost as much as a light wind would have done. On Wednesday evening and Thursday morning more particularly, though the weather was such a perfect calm that the ship was absolutely her own mistress, and would not answer the helm, yet we found to our surprise, that during the twenty-four hours, we had advanced two degrees of longitude. On Thursday a light breeze blew, which, with the friendly help of the current, helped us on three degrees more. And on Friday and Saturday we had a stiff gale, which fairly placed us at twelve o'clock the latter day in lat. 36° 52′ E. long. 42°. 59'. This was, of course, not effected without considerable tossing. The day was rainy, and the sea broke over the |