veral were acquainted with my father;
so I soon made acquaintances with my fellow-voyagers, and found the time
pass pleasantly enough. We cast anchor for a day at Saint Helena, and I
had an opportunity of visiting the most beautiful parts of that island.
Our voyage continued favourable until we were within a few degrees of
the equator, when the favourable wind died away, and we were left
becalmed. This was not an unusual condition. The captain informed us
that he had remained on one occasion ten days in these latitudes without
moving a mile. The heat was very great, but as most of us had been long
in India we stood this better than did those passengers who had merely
joined us at Cape Town. I soon took great interest in catching shark.
These sea monsters seemed attracted to the ship, and there was usually a
dorsal fin seen above the water within a hundred yards of our ship. I
constructed an arrangement for shark-fishing which was very successful.
At the end of a stout copper wire I lashed a strong hook, and then, with
a long line fastened to the wire, I could play the shark just as
salmon-fishers play a salmon. By this means I used to catch a shark
nearly every day. One of these was a monster ten feet long. We used to
haul these fish on deck by slipping a bowling-knot in a rope down our
line and over the shark's fins; and we had great excitement when the
creatures were hauled on deck, as they were dangerous to approach until
they were killed by blows on the head, and their tail partly amputated
with a hatchet. There were on board three gentlemen, who were good
chess-players. I used to watch these play their games, and soon learned
the moves and the manner in which the game was played, and before the
voyage was half over I could play chess very fairly. I also learned
from one of the mates how to measure altitudes of the sun, and how to
find the latitude each day. This gave me a taste for astronomy, and I
learned also the names of the principal stars. The voyage was thus to
me a period of interest, and did not hang heavily on my hands; whereas
those people who took no interest in anything during the voyage, were
always wearied and cross.

As we approached England we met or overtook several ships: our vessel
was a very fast sailer, and never failed to overtake any ship that we
saw ahead of us. It was on the fifty-fourth day from leaving the Cape
that we saw some land, which the captain told us was Ushant. Tw