monkey to the boatswain, who always remains in the ship, whence he
found his way back to his old haunts in Exeter 'Change, after an
absence of nearly three years; for happening one day, not long after
the ship was paid off, to be in attendance upon a party seeing the
wild beasts, one of the monkeys set up such a chattering in his cage,
that he attracted the attention of the keeper of the establishment.
"That animal seems to know you, sir," said he to me; and upon going
nearer, I discovered my old and mischievous friend grinning with
delight. I must own, indeed, that my heart smote me a little as I
looked at the broken teeth, while the poor fellow held out his paw to
catch my hand, in the spirit of perfect kindness and forgiveness.

A far different fate, I am sorry to record, befell another monkey of
mine, in another ship, and in a very different quarter of the globe. I
was then in command of the Lyra, on the homeward voyage from China,
after the embassy under Lord Amherst had been concluded. We touched on
our way to Calcutta at the Philippine Islands, and, amongst other live
stock, laid in a monkey which had seen the world. He was born, they
assured us, at Teneriffe, bred at Cadiz, and had afterwards made the
voyage across the Pacific Ocean, _viá_ Lima and Acapulco, to Manilla.
Our extensive traveller had made good use of his time and
opportunities, and was destined to see a good deal more of men and
manners, indeed almost to make out the circuit of the globe. This
distinguished monkey had a particular liking for the marines, who
caressed and fed him, and sometimes even ventured to teach him to play
off tricks on Jack, which the sailors promised one day to pay back
with interest on the soldiers. In so diminutive a vessel as a ten-gun
brig, there is but a small party of marines, merely a sergeant's
guard, and no commissioned officer, otherwise I hardly think the
following trick would have been attempted.

One Sunday, while going the formal division rounds, I came to a figure
which at first sight puzzled me not a little. This was no other than
our great traveller, the monkey, rigged out as a marine, and planted
like a sentry on the middle step of the short ladder, which, in
deep-waisted vessels, is placed at the gangway, and reaches from the
deck to the top of the bulwark. The animal was dressed up in a
complete suit of miniature uniform, made chiefly of the coloured
buntin used for flags with sundry bits of red baize purloined from the
carpenters. His regimental cap was constructed out of painted canvas;
and under his lower jaw had been forced a stock of pump-leather, so
stiff in itself, and so tightly drawn back, that his head was rendered
totally immoveable. His chin, and great part of the cheeks, had been
shaved with so much care, that only two small curled mustachios and a
respectable pair of whiskers remained. His hair behind being tied back
tightly into a queue, the poor devil's eyes were almost starting from
his head; while the corners of his mouth being likewise tugged towards
the ears by the hair-dresser's operations, the expression of his
countenance became irresistibly ludicrous. The astonished recruit's
elbows were then brought in contact and fastened behind by a lashing,
passed round and secured to the middle step of the ladder, so that he
could not budge an inch from his position. One of the ship's pistols,
fashioned like a musket, and strapped to his shoulder, was tied to his
left hand, which again had been sewed by the sail-maker to the
waistband of his beautifully pipe-clayed trousers; in short, he was
rigged up as a complete sea-soldier in full uniform.

As the captain and his train approached, the monkey began to tremble
and chatter; but the men, not knowing how their chief might relish the
joke, looked rather grave, while, I own, it cost me no small official
struggle to keep down a laugh. I did succeed, however, and merely
said, in passing, "You should not play these tricks upon travellers;
cast him loose immediately." One of the men pulled his knife from his
breast, and cutting the cord which fastened the poor Spaniard to the
ladder, let him scamper off. Unluckily for the gravity of the
officers, however, and that of the crew, Jacko did not run below, or
jump into one of the boats out of sight, but made straight for his
dear friends the marines, drawn up in line across our little
hurricane-house of a poop. Unconscious of the ridicule he was bringing
on his military patrons, he took up a position in front of the corps,
not unlike a fugleman; and I need hardly say, that even the royals
themselves, provoked though they were, now joined in the laugh which
soon passed along the decks, and was with difficulty suppressed during
the remainder of the muster.

A day or two afterwards, and while the monkey was still puzzled to
think what was the matter with his chin, he happened to observe the
doctor engaged in some chemical process. As his curiosity and desire
for information were just such as ought to characterize a traveller of
his intelligence, he crept gradually from chest to chest, and from bag
to bag, till he arrived within about a yard of Apothecaries' Hall, as
that part of the steerage was named by the midshipmen. Poor Mono's
delight was very great as he observed the process of pill-making,
which he watched attentively while the ingredients were successively
weighed, pounded, and formed into a long roll of paste. All these
proceedings excited his deepest interest. The doctor then took his
spreader, and cut the roll into five pieces, each of which he intended
to divide into a dozen pills. At this stage of the process, some one
called the pharmacopoeist's attention to the hatchway. The instant his
back was turned, the monkey darted on the top of the medicine-chest,
snapped up all the five masses of pill stuff, stowed them hastily
away in his pouch, or bag, at the side of his mouth, scampered on
deck, and leaped into the main rigging, preparatory to a leisurely
feast upon his pilfered treasures.

The doctor's first feeling was that of anger at the abstraction of his
medicines; but in the next instant, recollecting that unless immediate
steps were taken, the poor animal must inevitably be poisoned, he
rushed on deck, without coat or hat, and knife in hand, to the great
surprise and scandal of the officer of the watch.

"Lay hold of the monkey, some of you!" roared the doctor to the
people. "Jump up in the rigging, and try to get out of his pouch a
whole mess of my stuff he has run off with!"

The men only laughed, as they fancied the doctor must be cracked.

"For any sake," cried the good-natured physician, "don't make a joke
of this matter. The monkey has now in his jaws more than a hundred
grains of calomel, and unless you get it from him, he will die to a
certainty!"

Literally, the quantity Jacko had purloined, had it been prescribed,
would have been ordered in these terms:--

Rx Hydrargyri submuriatis, 3ij. (Take of calomel 120 grains!)

This appeal, which was quite intelligible, caused an immediate rush of
the men aloft; but the monkey, after gulping down one of the lumps, or
twenty-four grains, shot upwards to the top, over the rail of which he
displayed his shaven countenance, and, as if in scorn of their
impotent efforts to catch him, plucked another lump from his cheek,
and swallowed it likewise, making four dozen grains to begin with. The
news spread over the ship; and all hands, marines inclusive, most of
whom had never been farther in the rigging than was necessary to hang
up a wet shirt to dry, were seen struggling aloft to rescue the poor
monkey from his sad fate. All their exertions were fruitless; for just
as the captain of the maintop seized him by the tail, at the starboard
royal yard-arm, he was cramming the last batch of calomel down his
throat!

It would give needless pain to describe the effects of swallowing the
whole of this enormous prescription. Every art was resorted to within
our reach in the shape of antidotes, but all in vain. The stomach-pump
was then, unfortunately, not invented. Poor Jacko's sufferings, of
course, were great: first, he lost the use of his limbs, then he
became blind, next paralytic; and, in short, he presented, at the end
of the week, such a dreadful spectacle of pain, distortion, and
rigidity of limb, that I felt absolutely obliged to desire that he
might be released from his misery, by being thrown into the sea. This
was accordingly done when the ship was going along, for the British
Channel, at the rate of seven or eight knots, with a fine fair wind.
Very shortly afterwards it fell calm, and next day the wind drew round
to the eastward. It continued at that point till we were blown fifty
leagues back, and kept at sea so much longer than we had reckoned
upon, that we were obliged to reduce our daily allowance of provisions
and water to a most painfully small quantity. The sailors unanimously
ascribed the whole of our bad luck to the circumstance of the monkey
being thrown overboard.

I had all my nautical life been well aware that a cat ought never to
be so treated; but never knew, till the fate of this poor animal
acquainted me with the fact, that a monkey is included in Jack's
superstition.

In the same vessel, and on the same voyage to China, the sailors had
another pet, of a very singular description; viz. a pig--literally a
grunter: nor do I believe there ever was a favourite more deeply
cherished, or more sincerely lamented after her singular exit. On our
sailing from England, six little sows, of a peculiarly fine breed, had
been laid in by my steward. In the course of the voyage, five of these
fell under the relentless hands of the butcher; but one of the six,
being possessed of a more graceful form than belonged to her sister
swine, and kept as clean as any lap-dog, was permitted to run about
the decks, amongst the goats, sheep, dogs, and monkeys of our little
ark. The occurrence of two or three smart gales of wind off the Cape
of Good Hope, and the unceremonious entrance of sundry large seas,
swept the decks of most of our live stock, excepting only this one
pig, known amongst the crew by the pet name of Jean. During the bad
weather off the Bank of Aguilhas, her sowship was stowed in the launch
on the booms, and never seen, though often enough heard; but when we
hauled up to the northward, and once more entered the trade-winds, on
our course to the Straits of Sunda, by which entrance we proposed to
gain the Java Sea, Miss Jean was again allowed to range about the
decks at large, and right happy she seemed, poor lady, to exchange the
odious confinement of the longboat for the freedom of the open waist.

In warm latitudes, the men, as I have mentioned before, generally
take their meals on deck, and it was Jean's grand amusement, as well
as business, to cruise along amongst the messes, poking her snout into
every bread-bag, and very often she scalded her tongue in the
soup-kids. Occasionally, the sailors, to show the extent of their
regard, amused themselves by pouring a drop of grog down her throat. I
never saw her fairly drunk, however, but twice; upon which occasions,
as was to be expected, she acted pretty much like a human being in the
same hoggish predicament. Whether it was owing to this high feeding,
or to the constant scrubbing which her hide received from sand,
brushes, and holystones, I know not, but she certainly grew and
flourished at a most astonishing rate, and every day waxed more and
more impudent and importunate at the dinner-hour. I saw a good deal of
this familiarity going on, but had no idea of the estimation Jean was
held in, till one day, when we were about half-way across the China
Sea, and all our stock of sheep, fowls, and ducks, was expended, I
said to the steward, "You had better kill the pig, which, if properly
managed, will last till we reach Macao."

The servant stood for some time fumbling with his hair, and shuffling
with his feet, muttering something to himself.

"Don't you hear?" I asked. "Kill the pig; and let us have the fry
to-day; the head with plenty of port wine, as mock-turtle soup,
to-morrow; and get one of the legs roasted for dinner on Saturday."

Off he went; but in half-an-hour returned, on some pretence or other,
when he took occasion to ask,--

"Did you say Jean was to be killed, sir?"

"Jean! Who is Jean?--Oh, now I remember; the pig. Yes, certainly. Why
do you bother and boggle so about killing a pig?"

"The ship's company, sir--"

"Well; what have the ship's company to say to my pig?"

"They are very fond of Jean, sir."

"The devil they are! Well; what then?"

"Why, sir, they would take it as a great kindness if you would not
order her to be killed. She is a great pet, sir, and comes to them
when they call her by name, like a dog. They have taught her not to
venture abaft the mainmast; but if you only call her, you'll see that
what I say is true."

"Indeed! I'll soon try that experiment;" and seized my hat to go on
deck.

"Shall I tell the butcher to hold fast?" asked Capewell.

"Of course!" I exclaimed. "Of course!"

Off shot the steward like an arrow; and I could soon distinguish the
effect of the announcement, by the intermission of those horrible
screams which ever attend the execution of the pig tribe, all which
sounds were instantly terminated on the seizings being cut that tied
poor Jean's legs.

On reaching the quarter-deck, I told what had passed to the officer of
the watch, who questioned its propriety a little, I thought, by the
tone of his answer. I, however, called out "Jean! Jean!" and in a
moment the delighted pig came prancing along. So great, in fact, was
her anxiety to answer the call, as if to show her sense of the
trifling favour I had just conferred upon her, that she dashed towards
us, tripped up the officer's heels, and had I not caught him, he
would have come souse on the deck. Even as it was, he indulged in a
growl, and muttered out,--

"You see, sir, what your yielding to such whims brings upon us."

I said nothing, and only took care in future to caution my friends to
mind their footing when Jean was summoned aft, which, I allow, was
very often; for there was no resisting the exhibition to all strangers
of such a patent pet as this. To the Chinese in particular our comical
favourite became an object of the highest admiration, for the natives
of the celestial empire soon recognized in this happiest of swine the
celebrated breed of their own country. Many a broad hint I got as to
the acceptable nature of such a present, but I was deaf to them all;
for I felt that Jean now belonged more to the ship's company than to
myself, and that there was a sort of obligation upon me neither to eat
her nor to give her away.

Under this tacit guarantee she gained so rapidly in size, fat, and
other accomplishments, that, on our return to China, after visiting
Loo Choo and other islands of the Japan Sea, the gentlemen of the
factory would hardly credit me that this huge monster was the same
animal. In talking of Jean's accomplishments, I must not be understood
to describe her as a learned pig; for she could neither play cards,
solve quadratic equations, nor perform any of those feats which
enchant and astonish the eyes of the citizens of London and elsewhere,
where many dogs and hogs are devoutly believed to be vested with a
degree of intelligence rather above than below the average range of
human intellect. Far from this, honest Jean could do little or nothing
more than eat, drink, sleep, and grunt; in which respects she was
totally unrivalled, and the effect of her proficiency in these
characteristic qualities became daily more manifest. At first, as I
have mentioned, when her name was called from any part of the ship,
she would caper along, and dash impetuously up to the group by whom
she was summoned. But after a time she became so excessively fat and
lazy that it required many a call to get her to move, and the offer of
a slice of pine-apple, or a handful of lychees, or even the delicious
mangosteen, was now hardly enough to make her open her eyes, though in
the early stages of the voyage she had been but too thankful for a
potato, or the skin of an apple. As she advanced in fatness, she lost
altogether the power of walking, and expected the men to bring the
good things of their table to her, instead of allowing her to come for
them.

At the time of Sir Murray Maxwell's attack on the batteries of Canton,
the Lyra, under my command, was lying at Macao, and during our stay
the brig was visited by many of the Chinese authorities. We were also
watched by a fleet of men-of-war junks, and had some reason to suppose
that we might have a brush with them. In that event, I think our worst
chance would have consisted in the enthusiasm with which the Chinese
admiral, captains, and crews, would have fought to have put themselves
in possession of such a prize as Jean.

While things were in this interesting position, I received orders to
get under weigh, and run up the Canton river to Wampoa. Off we set,
escorted by the Chinese fleet of a dozen sail of junks. The wind was
against us, but we soon beat up to the Bogue, and passed, unharmed,
the batteries, which, to use Lord Nelson's expression, Captain
Maxwell had made to look very like a plum-pudding. We had scarcely
anchored at Second Bar, in the midst of the grand fleet of tea ships,
when we were boarded by a host of Chinese mandarins and Hong
merchants, wearing all the variety of buttons by which ranks are
distinguished in that well-classified land. This was not to compliment
us, or to offer us assistance, or even to inquire our business. One
single object seemed to engage all their thoughts and animate the
curiosity of half the province of Quantung. The fame of our fat sow
Jean, in short, had far outrun the speed of the Lyra, and nothing was
heard on every hand but the wondering exclamations of the natives,
screaming out in admiration, "High-yaw! High-yaw!"

We had enough to do to clear the ship at night of these our visitors,
but we were by no means left in solitude; for the Lyra's anchorage was
completely crowded with native boats. The motive of all this attention
on the part of the Chinese was not merely pure admiration of Jean; the
fact is, the acute Chinese, skilled especially in hog's flesh, saw
very well that our pet pig was not long for this world, and knowing
that if she died a natural death, we should no more think of eating
her than one of our own crew; and having guessed also that we had no
intention of "killing her to save her life," they very reasonably
inferred that ere long this glorious _bonne bouche_ would be at their
disposal.

Our men, who soon got wind of this design on the part of the Chinese,
became quite outrageous against Fukee, as the natives are called, and
would hardly permit any visitors to come near their favourite, lest
they should accelerate her inevitable fate by poison. At length poor
dear Jean gave token of approaching dissolution; she could neither
eat, nor drink, nor even grunt; and her breathing was like that of a
broken bellows: in short, she died! Every art was taken to conceal the
melancholy event from the Chinese; but somehow or other it got abroad,
for the other English ships were deserted, and long before sunset a
dense mass of boats, like a floating town, was formed astern and on
both quarters of the Lyra.

The sailors now held a grand consultation as to what was to be done;
and after much discussion, and many neat and appropriate speeches, it
was unanimously resolved that the mortal remains of the great sow now
no more should be deposited in the mud of the river of Canton, in such
a way that the most dexterous and hungry inhabitant of the celestial
empire should not be able to fish her up again.

As soon as it was quite dark, and all the Chinese boats sent, as
usual, beyond the circle limited by the ship's buoys, the defunct
pig's friends set to work to prepare for her obsequies. The chief
object was to guard against the ravenous natives hearing the splash,
as she went overboard; and next, that she should not afterwards float
to the surface. The first point was easily accomplished, as will be
seen presently; but there was a long debate, in whispers, amongst the
men, as to the most expedient plan of keeping the body of their late
pet from once more showing her snout above the stream. At length, it
was suggested by the coxswain of one of the boats which had been sent
during the morning to sound the passage, that as the bed of the river
where the brig lay consisted of a deep layer of mud, it would be a
good thing if Jean's remains could be driven so far into this soft
stratum as to lie below the drags and hooks of the Chinese.

This advice was much applauded, and at once acted upon with that happy
facility of resource which it is the pride of the profession to have
always in store for small as well as for great occasions. The dead sow
was first laid on its back, and then two masses of iron ballast, being
placed one on each side of the cheek, were lashed securely to the neck
and shoulders in such a manner that the ends of the kentlage met
across her nose, and formed, as it was very properly called, an extra
snout for piercing the mud.

When all was ready, the midship carronade was silently dismounted, the
slide unbolted, and the whole removed out of the way. Jean's enormous
corporation being then elevated, by means of capstan bars and
handspikes, was brought on a level with the port-sill. A slip-rope was
next passed between her hind legs, which had been tied together at the
feet; and poor Miss Piggy, being gradually pushed over the ship's
side, was lowered slowly into the water. When fairly under the
surface, and there were no fears of any splash being caused by letting
her go, one end of the rope was cast off, upon which the well-loaded
carcass shot down perpendicularly at such a rate that there could be
no question of its being immersed a fathom deep, at least, in the mud,
and, of course, far beyond the reach of the disappointed Chinese!




CHAPTER XIV.

DOUBLING THE CAPE.


As our merry little ship approached the far-famed Cape of Good Hope, I
often remained on deck after the watch was out, feasting my eyes on
the sight of constellations known to me before only by name, and as
yet scarcely anchored in my imagination. Each succeeding night, as the
various clusters rose, crossed the meridian, and sunk again into the
western waves, we came more and more into the way, not only of
speaking, but thinking of them, under their conventional titles of
hydras, doves, toucans, phoenixes, and flying-fish, not forgetting the
enormous southern whale, whose beautiful eye, called Fomalhaut, while
it flames in the zenith of the Cape, is hardly known to the
astronomers of this country, from its greatest altitude, as seen by
them, not being ten degrees.

But of all the Antarctic constellations, the celebrated Southern Cross
is by far the most remarkable, and must, in every age, continue to
arrest the attention of all voyagers and travellers who are fortunate
enough to see it. I think it would strike the imagination even of a
person who had never heard of the Christian religion; but of this it
is difficult to judge, seeing how inextricably our own ideas are
mingled up with associations linking this sacred symbol with almost
every thought, word, and deed of our lives. The three great stars
which form the Cross, one at the top, one at the left arm, and one,
which is the chief star, called Alpha, at the foot, are so placed as
to suggest the idea of a crucifix, even without the help of a small
star, which completes the horizontal beam. When on the meridian, it
stands nearly upright; and as it sets, we observe it lean over to the
westward. I am not sure whether, upon the whole, this is not more
striking than its gradually becoming more and more erect as it rises
from the east. In every position, however, it is beautiful to look at,
and well calculated, with a little prompting from the fancy, to stir
up our thoughts to solemn purpose. I know not how others are affected
by such things; but, for myself, I can say with truth, that, during
the many nights I have watched the Southern Cross, I remember no two
occasions when the spectacle interested me exactly in the same way,
nor any one upon which I did not discover the result to be somewhat
different, and always more impressive, than what I had looked for.

This constellation being about thirty degrees from the south pole, is
seen in its whole revolution, and, accordingly, when off the Cape, I
have observed it in every stage, from its triumphant erect position,
between sixty and seventy degrees above the horizon, to that of
complete inversion, with the top beneath, and almost touching the
water. This position, by the way, always reminded me of the death of
St. Peter, who is said to have deemed it too great an honour to be
crucified with his head upwards. In short, I defy the stupidest mortal
that ever lived to watch these changes in the aspect of this splendid
constellation, and not to be in some degree struck by them.

These airy visions are sometimes curiously broken in upon by the most
common-place incidents, which force us back upon ordinary life. On the
28th of May we overtook a packet on her way to the Brazils from
England, which had sailed more than a month after us, but she had not
a single newspaper, army list, navy list, or review on board. The mate
was totally ignorant of all the interesting topics of that most
interesting moment of the war (1812); and in reply to all our
questions, merely observed that everything was just the same as when
we left England. The captain was ill in bed, and could not be spoken
to, so that this intelligent gentleman, his chief officer, had been
lugged on deck to tell the news. He honestly confessed, after being
sufficiently baited and badgered by our interrogatories, that even
when in England he had no time to look at the newspapers, but that he
left public affairs to the management of those whose business it was
to look after them, while he found enough to do in looking after the
packet.

"I dare say," added the fellow, with rather more dryness of humour
than we had imagined was in his doughy composition, "I dare say the
whole story you are asking about, of Buonaparte and the Russians, is
told very exactly in these bags (pointing to the mail), and if I
deliver them safe at Rio, it will be wrong to say I bring no news."

On the 4th of June we had a jollification in honour of good old King
George the Third's birthday. In how many different parts of the world,
and with what deep and affectionate sincerity, were cups quaffed and
cheers rung out in the same loyal cause! If sailors would tell the
truth, we should find that when abroad and far away, they generally
use their distant friends as the captain, mentioned some time ago, did
his ship's company's European clothing--stow them away for a future
occasion. I do not say that they forget or neglect their friends; they
merely put them by in safety for a time. In fact, as the song says, a
sailor's heart and soul have plenty to do "in every port," to keep
fully up to the companionships which are present, without moping and
moaning over the remembrance of friends at a distance, who, in like
manner no doubt, unship us also, more or less, from their thoughts, if
not from their memory, for the time being; and it is all right and
proper that it should be so.

On the 5th of June we parted from our convoy, the China ships; and,
alas! many a good dinner we lost by that separation. Our course lay
more to the left, or eastward, as we wished to look in at the Cape of
Good Hope, while those great towering castles, the tea ships, could
not afford time for play, but struck right down to the southward, in
search of the westerly winds which were to sweep them half round the
globe, and enable them to fetch the entrance of the China seas in time
to save the monsoon to Canton. Each ship sent a boat to us with
letters for England, to be forwarded from the Cape. This was probably
their last chance for writing home; so that, after the accounts
contained in these dispatches reached England, their friends would
hear nothing of them till they presented themselves eighteen months
afterwards. Neither did they expect to know what was passing at home
till they should touch at St. Helena, on the return voyage, in the
latter end of the following year.

I remember looking over the lee-gangway next day, at the first blush
of the dawn, during the morning watch, and I could barely distinguish
the fleet far to leeward, with their royals just showing above the
horizon. On taking leave of our convoy, we were reminded that there is
always something about the last, the very last look of any object,
which brings with it a feeling of melancholy. On this occasion,
however, we had nothing more serious to reproach ourselves with than
sundry impatient execrations with which we had honoured some of our
slow-moving, heavy-sterned friends, when we were compelled to shorten
sail in a fair wind, in order to keep them company. A smart frigate
making a voyage with a dull-sailing convoy reminds one of the child's
story of the provoking journey made by the hare with a drove of oxen.

Our merry attendants, the flying-fish, and others which swarmed about
us in the torrid zone, refused to see us across the tropic, and the
only aquatics we fell in with afterwards were clumsy whales and
grampuses, and occasionally a shoal of white porpoises. Of birds there
were plenty, especially albatrosses. The captain, being a good shot
with a ball, brought down one of these, which measured seven feet
between the tips of the wings. I have several times seen them twelve
feet; and I heard a well-authenticated account of one measuring
sixteen feet from tip to tip. On the 22nd of June we came in sight of
the high land on the northern part of the peninsula of the Cape of
Good Hope, the far-famed Table Mountain, which looked its character
very well, and really did not disappoint us, though, in general, its
height, like that of most high lands, is most outrageously exaggerated
in pictures. The wind failed us during the day, and left us rolling
about till the evening, when the breeze came too late to be of much
use. Next day we rounded the pitch of the Cape, but it blew so strong
from the northward, right out of False Bay, accompanied by rain and a
high sea, that we found it no easy job to hold our own, much less to
gain the anchorage. But on the 24th of June, the day after, the wind
moderated and became fair, the weather cleared up, and we sailed
almost into Simon's Bay, a snug little nook at the north-western angle
of False Bay. It then fell calm, but the boats of the men-of-war at
anchor, his Majesty's ships Lion, Nisus, and Galatea, soon towed us
into our berth. During the winter of that hemisphere, which
corresponds to our northern summer, the only safe quarters for ships
is in Simon's Bay, on the south side of the Cape peninsula.

I have a perfect recollection of the feelings with which I leaped out
of the boat, and first set foot on the continent of Africa, but am
prevented from describing these poetical emotions by the remembrance,
equally distinct, of the more engrossing anxiety which both my
companion and myself experienced about our linen, then on its way to
the laundress in two goodly bundles. For the life of me, I cannot
separate the grand ideas suitable to the occasion, from the base
interests connected with cotton shirts and duck trousers. And such is
the tormenting effect of association, that when I wish to dwell upon
the strange feelings, partly professional and partly historical,
caused by actually gazing on the identical Cape of Good Hope, a spot
completely hammered into the memory of all sailors, straightway I
remember the bitter battling with the washer-folks of Simon's Town
touching the rate of bleaching shirts: and both the sublime and the
beautiful are lost in the useful and ridiculous.

The 3rd of July was named for sailing; but the wind, which first came
foul, soon lulled into a calm, then breezed up again; and so on
alternately, baffling us in all our attempts to get to sea. Nor was it
till the 5th that we succeeded in forcing our way out against a smart
south-easter, with a couple of reefs in the topsails, and as much as
we could do to carry the mainsail. A westerly current sweeps at all
seasons of the year round the Cape of Good Hope, and sometimes proves
troublesome enough to outward-bound ships. This stream is evidently
caused by the trade-wind in the southern parts of the Indian ocean.
For three days we were bamboozled with light south-easterly airs and
calms, but on the 8th of July, which is the depth of winter in that
hemisphere, there came on a spanking snuffler from the north-west,
before which we spun two hundred and forty miles, clean off the reel,
in twenty-four hours.

Nothing is more delightful than the commencement of such a fair wind.
The sea is then smooth, and the ship seems literally to fly along; the
masts and yards bend forwards, as if they would drop over the bows,
while the studding-sail booms crack and twist, and, unless great care
be taken, sometimes break across; but still, so long as the surface of
the sea is plane it is astonishing what a vast expanse of canvas may
be spread to the rising gale. By-and-bye, however, it becomes prudent
to take in the royals, flying-jib, and top-gallant studding-sails. The
boatswain takes a look at the gripes and other fastenings of the boats
and booms; the carpenter instinctively examines the port-lashings, and
draws up the pump-boxes to look at the leathers; while the gunner sees
that all the breechings and tackles of the guns are well secured
before the ship begins to roll. The different minor heads of
departments, also, to use their own phrase, smell the gale coming on,
and each in his respective walk gets things ready to meet it. The
captain's and gun-room steward beg the carpenter's mate to drive down
a few more cleats and staples, and, having got a cod-line or two from
the boatswain's yeoman, or a hank of marline stuff, they commence
double lashing all the tables and chairs. The marines' muskets are
more securely packed in the arm-chest. The rolling tackles are got
ready for the lower yards, and the master, accompanied by the gunner's
mate, inspects the lanyards of the lower rigging. All these, and
twenty other precautions are taken in a manner so slow and deliberate
that they would hardly catch the observation of a passenger. It might
also seem as if the different parties were afraid to let out the
secret of their own lurking apprehension, but yet were resolved not to
be caught unprepared.

Of these forerunners of a gale none is more striking than the repeated
looks of anxiety which the captain casts to windward, as if his
glance could penetrate the black sky lowering in the north-west, in
order to discover what was behind, and how long with safety he might
carry sail. Ever and anon he shifts his look from the wind's eye, and
rests it on the writhing spars aloft, viewing with much uneasiness the
stretching canvas all but torn from the yards. He then steps below,
and for the fortieth time reads off the barometer. On returning to the
deck he finds that, during the few minutes he has been below, the
breeze has freshened considerably, or, it may be, that, coming
suddenly upon it again, he views it differently. At all events, he
feels the necessity of getting the sails in while he yet can, or
before "God Almighty takes them in for him," as the sailors say when
matters have been so long deferred, that not only canvas and yards,
but even masts, are at times suddenly wrenched out of the ship, and
sent in one confused mass far off to leeward, whirling in the gale!

The men, who are generally well aware of the necessity of shortening
sail long before the captain has made up his mind to call the hands
for that purpose, have probably been collected in groups for some time
in different parts of the upper deck, talking low to one another, and
looking aloft with a start, every now and then, as the masts or yards
give an extra crack.

"Well! this is packing on her," says one, laying an emphasis on the
word "is."

"Yes!" replies another; "and if our skipper don't mind, it will be
packing off her presently," with an emphasis on the word "off." "Right
well do I know these Cape gales," adds an ancient mariner of the
South Seas; "they snuffle up in a minute; and, I'll answer for it, the
captain will not carry sail so long off Cape Aguilhas, when he has
gone round that breezy point as often as old Bill has."

At this moment the tardy voice of the commander, long unwilling to
lose any part of the fair wind, is at length heard, giving the
reluctant order, "Turn the hands up, shorten sail!" The ready clatter
of feet, and the show of many heads at all the hatchways, and
perhaps the sound of a suppressed laugh amongst the men who have been
gossiping and wagering about the gale, give sufficient indication that
this evolution has been expected for some time.

"All hands shorten sail!" calls out the boatswain, after a louder and
sharper note than usual from his pipe, winded not half the ordinary
length of time, though twice as shrilly; for his object is to mark on
the ears of the people the necessity of unusual expedition and
exertion. A clever and experienced person filling this important
situation will soon teach the men to distinguish between the various
notes of his call, though to unpractised ears the sounds might appear
unvaried.

"Shorten sail! that's easier said than done," growls forth some
hard-up old cock.

"No! not a bit easier said than done," unexpectedly observes the
captain, but quite good-humouredly, having accidentally heard the
seaman's remark. "Not a bit, old fellow, if you and the young hands
only work as smartly and cheerfully as I know you can do when you have
a mind. Come, my lads, are you all ready forward?"

It is a trying moment both for the sails and yards, when the order is
actually given to commence shortening sail; if the pressure from the
wind be considerable, it is necessary to have men stationed to lower
away the haulyards and ease off the tacks at the proper moment, while
others gather in the sails as they come down, fluttering a little
perhaps, if not carefully managed, but still quietly and easily, as
well as quickly. When, however, the wind has risen to a pitch beyond
its due proportion to the canvas spread, and the captain's anxiety to
make the most of a fair wind has tempted him to carry on too long, the
case becomes very difficult, the ropes which keep the sails in their
places contributing also an important share to the support of those
spars to which the sails are bent, or to which they may be hauled out.
Consequently, the moment the ropes alluded to, which are technically
named the haulyards and tacks, are slackened, the yards and booms,
being suddenly deprived of these material supports, are very apt to be
sprung, that is, cracked across, or even carried away, which means
being snapped right in two as short as a carrot, to use Jack's very
appropriate simile.

It is quite true, that lowering away the sail and easing off the tack
of a studding-sail does diminish the pressure of the sail on the spar,
and, of course, both the yard and the boom have less duty to perform.
Still, the moment which succeeds the order to "Lower away!" is
especially trying to the nerves of the officer who is carrying on the
duty. I have not unfrequently seen comparatively young officers handle
the sails and yards of a ship with perfect ease, from their superior
mechanical knowledge, at times when the oldest sailors on board were
puzzled how to get things right. One officer, for instance, may
direct the preparations for shortening sail to be made according to
the most orthodox rules laid down in Hamilton Moor's "Examination of a
Young Sea Officer," and yet when he comes to give the fatal word,
"Lower away! haul down!" everything shall go wrong. The tack being
eased off too soon, the spar breaks in the middle, and the poor
topmast studding-sail is spitted like a lark on the broken stump of
the boom, while the lower studding-sail, driven furiously forward by
the squall, is pierced by the spritsail yard-arm, the cat-head, and
the bumpkin; or it may be wrapped round the bowsprit, like so much wet
drapery in the inimitable Chantrey's studio over the clay figure of an
Indian bishop.

"What the blue blazes shall I do next?" moans the poor puzzled officer
of the watch, who sees this confusion caused entirely by his own bad
management. On such an occasion, a kind and considerate captain will
perhaps fairly walk below, and so leave the mortified youth to get
himself out of the scrape as he best can, and rather lose a small
spar, or a bolt of canvas, than expose his officer to the humiliation
of having the task transferred to another; or he will edge himself
near the embarrassed officer, and, without the action being detected
by any one else, whisper a few magical words of instruction in the
young man's ear, by which the proper train of directions are set
agoing, and the whole confusion of ropes, sails, and yards, speedily
brought into order. If this fails, the hands are called, upon which
the captain himself, or more generally the first lieutenant, takes the
trumpet; and the men, hearing the well-known, confident voice of
skill, fly to the proper points, "monkey paw" the split sails, clear
the ropes, which an instant before seemed inextricably foul, and in a
very few minutes reduce the whole disaster to the dimensions of a
common occurrence. "Now, you may call the watch," says the captain;
and the reproved officer again takes charge of the deck. I need hardly
say, that any young man of spirit ought rather to wear his hands to
the bone in learning his duty, than to expose himself to such
mortification as this.

Let us, however, suppose all the extra sails taken in without
accident, and rolled up with as much haste as may be consistent with
that good order which ought never to be relaxed under any degree of
urgency. In fine weather, it is usual to place the studding-sails in
the rigging, with all their gear bent, in readiness to be whipped up
to the yard-arm at a moment's warning; but when a breeze such as we
are now considering is on the rise, it is thought best to unbend the
tacks and haulyards, and to stow the sails in some convenient place,
either on the booms, between the boats, or in the hammock-nettings.
For the same reason, the small sails are sent on deck, together with
as much top hamper as can readily be moved. These things are scarcely
bundled up and lifted out of the way before the long-expected order to
reef topsails is smartly given out, and crowds of men are seen
skipping up the tight weather-rigging, with a merry kind of alacrity,