d soothing themselves
to rest with songs. All these beauties of Nature were for a while
withdrawn. The stars served to alleviate the frown of night, rather
than to recover the objects from their obscurity. A faint ray scarcely
reflected, and only gave the straining eye a very imperfect glimpse.

The day following that the ship came out of dock we joined her. Our
labours were now unremitted, to get her in readiness for sea. Amidst
all our exertions it was impossible to give any satisfaction; our
chief mate was very arbitrary, and vented his spleen upon the
defenceless midshipmen, besides making the backs of the poor seamen
sore with _starting_. Starting is a term used for rope's-ending a man,
or otherwise laying a _Point_ severely across their shoulders till
they have not the strength to wield it any longer; a point is a flat
platted rope, made for the purpose of taking in reefs, or otherwise to
fasten the sail upon the yards.

At length my life became so truly miserable, that I was determined in
my own mind not to endure it, if there was any possibility of avoiding
it. For that purpose I wrote on board his Majesty's frigate,
Revolutionnaire, for a situation, when Captain Wolcombe generously
offered me one, provided I could get permission of Captain Craig to
leave my present ship. I was at length forced to leave Bombay,
through this and other circumstances.

On our arrival at Madras every preparation was made for receiving our
cargo on board, which was speedily done, and in a short time was ready
for sea.

SECTION III.

THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM MADRAS, DESCRIPTION OF A
WATER-SPOUT--HIS ARRIVAL AT ST. HELENA AND DEPARTURE
THEREFROM, ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND--JOINS HIS MAJESTY'S TRANSPORT
SHIP, TOTTENHAM, BOUND FOR NEW SOUTH WALES--HER RUNNING ON
SHORE IN THE RIVER AND PUTTING BACK TO DOCK--HE AFTERWARDS
JOINS HIS MAJESTY'S TRANSPORT SHIP, LADY CASTLEREAGH. HIS
DEPARTURE FROM DEPTFORD AND ARRIVAL AT PORTSMOUTH--HIS
DEPARTURE THEREFROM AND ARRIVAL AT NEW SOUTH WALES.

As soon as our dispatches were in readiness, we proceeded on our
passage for England; the morning was beautiful, and as the men were
heaving up the anchor, my heart felt an inward sensation of joy and
gratitude to our Creator, that he had been pleased to bring us so far
safe on our voyage; we made sail with a steady breeze, and soon lost
sight of land. After we had been at sea about two days, close on our
w