212 THK FLORIST. 



NOTES FROM THE LOG-BOOK OF AN ERRATIC MAN. 



No. VIII. 



FRUIT FOR THE SAILOR. 



Our ship was a complete floating hotel, and the consumption of 

 mutton, pork, poultry, and all the other et-cteteras for the table, was 

 startling, for we numbered seventy odd souls, in addition to the cap- 

 tain and oflicers. To replenish our stores, we were to call at the 

 Cape of Good Hope on our way from Calcutta, and for that purpose 

 shewed our faces off" Cape Aguillas, the southernmost point of Africa, 

 and running along the land, opened Table Bay at daylight the next 

 morning. " Come, my lads," said the chief officer to the crew, as he 

 saw them all at their stations, " we have caught Old Nick napping 

 for once ; if you will but work the ship as you ought to do, we'll 

 have her at anchor and be at breakfast before he gets his table-cloth 

 laid." 



Above Cape Town lies a lofty flat table-mountain, from which 

 the bay takes its name. Over its edge rolls a fleecy cloud, called 

 the Devil's Table-cloth ; and whenever it is seen, the prudent mariner 

 entering the bay immediately reduces his sail sufficiently to bear the 

 heavy squalls which invariably accompany the appearance in question, 

 and which give him no Httle trouble to reach the anchorage. 



Most of our men had " weathered the Cape" too often not to 

 understand the chief officer's remark, and turning-to with hearty 

 good-will, we worked the old ship up to the anchorage just as the 

 first thin vapour was gathering on the mountain's edge. In came 

 all the sails, and down went the anchor, startling the fish that with 

 staring eyes and open mouths had been watching the bright shining 

 sea-monster coming into their waters, for surely such our burnished 

 copper bottom twenty-two feet below the surface must have appeared 

 to them. 



Scarcely were the sails stowed and the ship made snug, before 

 the boats were conveying the passengers and their servants ashore ; 

 and shortly afterwards a bum-boat came alongside, filled \^-ith all the 

 little things poor Jack has a taste for, — loaves of bread, vegetables, 

 tobacco, pipes, crayfish, ostriches' eggs, Hottentot hats, &c. &c. In 

 addition, there was a considerable quantity of fine ripe grapes and 

 other fruits. Over the side went the chief mate, and to the merri- 

 ment of the men, who were hanging over the hammock-nettings and 

 wondering what he was about, began bargaining for every thing 

 eatable in the lump. After a deal of haggling, he purchased the 

 whole for a moderate sum, and had it got upon deck ; when, help- 

 ing himself to a quantity of grapes, and ordering them into the 

 cuddy, he told the crew that as they had pleased him in working 

 the ship into the anchorage, they might just share the rest among 

 themselves. 



Sailors are ready hands at any thing in the shape of vegetable 

 production, — it comes so refreshing after long dieting on salt pro- 



