37 



the barque the next day and saw the effects. As an illustration 

 of the carelessness exercised in fitting lightning conductors to 

 ships in those days, I may mention that on the vessel I was in 

 the conductor passed through the powder magazine, and it 

 caused no concern or alarm to those high in authority on board. 

 I was a junior officer at the time, but have often since thought 

 how serious matters might have been. Iron ships are very 

 seldom struck, and they are now fitted with conductors of copper 

 rope, which are long enough to reach the water, and on a storm 

 coming on the order is given to put the conductor overboard. 

 The Straits of Malacca are the worst places I know of for 

 thunder-storms, especially on the Sumatra Coast, where the 

 lightning is of an exceptionally dangerous form. In these 

 Straits I have seen the lightning playing about the chain guys of 

 the boats' davits running backwards and forwards, but no harm 

 was done. In iron ships we never sustained damage. 



Migration of the Terrapin (Water Tortoise.) 



It was in the 3'ear i86r or 1862 that I witnessed a most 

 curious migration of these creatures. I use the term migration 

 with some qualification, as their movement may have been 

 caused by the floods prevailing at the time. It was in the river 

 Hwangpoo, on which the important city of Shanghai is situated, 

 and in the month of June. There appeared for days together 

 myriads of the Terrapin, small and great, floating down with the 

 tide. At the same time there were numbers of dead human 

 bodies also floating doAvn, it being during the reign of terror of 

 the Taiping rebellion. I never heard that the Terrapin would 

 feed on a dead subject, and I don't believe they do. In the 

 South of China the Terrapin is much valued as an article of 

 food ; but in Shanghai no one would touch it, not even the 

 French troops, who were not as a rule very particular in this 

 respect. It is a curious fact that I never subsequently during my 

 many voyages to Shanghai ever saw a Terrapin in the river. 

 The distance from Shanghai to where the water becomes 

 brackish is some 30 miles, and there being a low alluvial country 

 the whole of that distance on either side, there was ample space 

 for them to select a new home, which I think must have been 

 the motive of such a movement. I remember at the time the 

 Chinese took but little notice of it as though it were a common 

 occurrence, but for my part I do not think such a migration as 

 I am describing was frequent, or I should certainly have seen 

 something of the Terrapin again in the same waters. 



Gulf Stream. 



The Gulf Stream is a wonderful phenomenon indeed. It is 

 in reality a river in the ocean, and one of the most marvellous 



