her canvas glittering in the sunlight glided
proudly up Channel. Even the gruffest old seaman began to smile, and
every one seemed in good spirits. At last a little one-masted vessel
came dancing over the small waves towards us, our sails were brailed up,
a boat put off from her, and a big man with huge whiskers, and rough
greatcoat, and broad-brimmed hat climbed up the side, and shook hands
with the captain; and I heard that the pilot had come on board, and that
we were sailing into the Downs. I went below, and on returning on deck
I looked up and saw, instead of the broad sheets of white canvas which
had so long been spread, the long yards above my head with the sails
closely furled. The ship was at anchor. In a short time the boat came
alongside, and my mother and sister and I, with our attendants, were
lowered into her. We rowed on shore, and went to a big house, where all
the people were wonderfully polite. I asked if this was to be our
future home, but my mother told me it was an inn--very unlike the
resting-places we had stopped at on our journey from Quito.

The next day we were all seated inside a yellow carriage, with Domingos
and Maria on the outside, and rolling away over the smooth road at a
great rate. We went on and on, changing horses every now and then,
through a country dotted about with houses which looked very large and
grand, and green trees which looked very small after those I had been
accustomed to see. At length the houses became thicker and thicker, and
we were driving through long streets with numberless carriages dashing
here and there, and carts, and vans, and vehicles of all sorts; and my
mother told me we were in London. We drove on, and I thought we should
soon be on the other side; but I found that we had not got nearly into
the centre of it. I had thought Quito a large city, but this, I
guessed, must be ten times larger. All the houses, too, looked
wonderfully high, and I thought if an earthquake were to occur, how
quickly they would all topple down. I asked my mother how people could
venture to build such tall houses. She laughed, and said that happily
in England there were no earthquakes; and that, in another city in the
north, there were houses ten stories high.

We stopped at last before a house in a long, dull-looking street, and a
gentleman came to the door and handed us all out, and kissed my mother
and Ellen and me, and welcomed us to England; and I found that he w