ay we drew out of Portsmouth harbour on our route to South
America, and sea-sickness soon commencing on board, I was, the worse
luck for myself, one of the number that succumbed to it. This lasted
for nearly a week, during the whole of which time we scarcely ate
anything; but when we got better, I think our appetites were such that
we could have readily finished a donkey with a hamper of greens.

We had good weather until we reached the tropics, when a dead calm
followed for a fortnight. As we were nearly upon the Equinoctial line,
the usual ceremony of shaving took place, which was no doubt very
amusing to those who escaped by treating the sailors to a bottle of
rum, or those who had crossed the Line before; but to us on whom the
barber, who was the sailor who had crossed the Line most often,
operated, it was not so pleasant. For the satisfaction of some who may
not quite understand the method of that interesting custom, I will
give the routine, at least as it happened on board our ship, though I
cannot altogether say whether the same is pursued universally, A large
tub of water was placed on deck, and each one who was to be performed
on, sat in turn on the edge; then the barber stepped forward and
lathered his face all over with tar and grease, and with a piece of
iron hoop as a razor scraped it off again; after which he pushed him
backwards into the tub, leaving him to crawl out anyhow and sneak off
to clean himself. All passed off very well, however, as there was
plenty of rum provided to drink from those officers and men who were
more disposed to join in the pay than the play.

During the calms, we amused ourselves fishing for dolphins, and
practising for the first time with ball-cartridge, a bottle being
corked and flung overboard as far as possible to serve as a target,
and a dollar being offered to the first man who could break it, each
one firing once. No one broke it, but I got a glass of grog from the
major for being the nearest; so near that I made the bottle spin
round. The major remarked that if I went so close as that to a
Spaniard I should make him shake; and he likewise asked me what trade
I was in before I joined the army. As I knew I was too far from
England now to be sent back, I told him that I was a builder's
apprentice; and he only said, "Well done, my boy, so you prefer
knocking down houses in the enemy's country to putting them up in your
own?" Certainly at this moment we were having an easy pl