426 Voyage of ilie No car a. 



most part pretty deep, and are usually manned with from 

 12 to 15 naked natives, who make use of an exceedingly 

 smooth pallette-shaped paddle. In one of these boats, the 

 officers of the frigate on leave, and the naturalists of the 

 Expedition, were conveyed to land in the midst of a fresh breeze 

 from the N.E. The more we approached the shore, the more 

 formidable was the appearance of the tumultuous tempest- 

 driven waves. Amid frightful yells and hurrahs, we passed in 

 safety the first and second lines of surf. But we had yet to 

 encounter the third, and by far the most furious. The boatmen 

 spread a couple of cloths over our heads, to prevent our getting 

 a soaking ; the boat made several violent plunges forward, and 

 was for an instant apparently covered by the tremendous foam- 

 ing billows, but seemed to glide in a most extraordinary manner 

 over these, and finally was neatly laid alongside the beach on the 

 crest of the last breaker. This is the critical moment, and the 

 most disagreeable, because the boat is, by this manipulation, 

 thrown on its side, and one feels disposed to rush out, ere the 

 returning wave throws the boat high and dry on the sand. 

 The noisy shrieks of the boat's crew and Coolies, or Lascars 

 (Indian porters), with which the disembarkation is accom- 

 panied, combine to render it still more annoying and un- 

 pleasant. One feels a sensation of satisfaction at having gone 

 through this remarkable, and to some extent w^holly peculiar, 

 experience ; but no one was ever known to encounter it volun- 

 tarily a second time. The glowing picture, which numbers of 

 travellers have drawn of the landing at Madras, might impress 



