190 SOME BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



" That's a lucky delay for us," he said. " Once started, 

 and nothing on earth would have turned me back, but 

 blank me if I like the look of the weather." I said I 

 thought the north-west wind beat the sea down. He 

 laughed, and replied, "So it does, if there's a south-east 

 wind blowino- at the same time, but ei""ht or ten miles 

 out there'll be quite as much hullaballoo on as with a 

 south-easter. No, I'll go to back to the jetty, and if 

 they say 'go' I'll go, if we have to hang about the 

 island a week before we can land. It aint often I turn 

 back neither." The upshot of it was that we were to 

 start at seven o'clock on the following morning, weather 

 permitting. 



The gale continued all clay, but next morning when 

 we met on the jetty we found that the wind had gone 

 down, and with it the sea. There w^as now only a big 

 glassy swell, with the wind still in the same quarter. 

 This looked more promising, and we made a start 

 without delay. Port Elizabeth and the shipping were 

 soon lost sio-ht of, and we then had a long: steam with 

 only the distant coast comprised of low sand-hills in 

 sight, which forms the north-eastern boundary of Algoa 

 Bay. 



There were not many birds to be seen during the 

 voyage, although as we got further out Gannets might 

 be observed sailing over the sea, sometimes single birds, 

 sometimes in flocks, one of them every now and then 

 dropping like a stone into the water beneath. I re- 

 member watching a Gannet keeping level with us for 

 miles and miles when going round the coast in the 

 Carisbrook Castle — one of the best mail boats and 

 doing exceptionally fast time — the Gannet just flew 



