STOUMY WEATHER. 19 



small, with bresul crumbs and yolks of eggs, kneaded 

 if together, and fried it in butter ; hence the name, for 

 in bad weather we could do nothing of the sort. 



With so much line weather I began to fear that we 

 should miss seeing a storm, and so lose the real de- 

 light of a sea voyage; but on the ICth it began to 

 blow, the sea got heavier and heavier, the faces longer 

 and longer and by midnight old Boreas was in full 

 bluster, the ship dashing nobly through the brilliantly ^ 

 illuminated sea. I was delighted with the war of the 

 elements, and leaning over the side, watched for hours 

 the raging storm and restless waves. I did not go to 

 bed till morning, when I took my mattress out of the 

 berth, and laid it on the deck, as it was impossible for 

 five to sleep below. 



The next day's sun lighted up a wild but glorious 

 scene ; immense dark blue waves, with green ridges 

 crested with foam, for a moment " towering in pride 

 of place," then sinking to make room for others ; a 

 shoal of large porpoises were leaping joyfully among 

 the boisterous waves. Sailors say that they can tell, 

 by the course of these fish, the quarter that the wind 

 will blow from, only they are not agreed 'whether they 

 go against the wind or run before it ; merely a dif- 

 ference of diametrically opposite directions. The gale 

 was now so heavy that we were obliged to lie to, with 

 the helm lashed a-lee. In the midst of it we saw a 

 ship running before the wind; with very little sail: 

 she was frequently hidden by the intervening waves, 

 shot quickly past, and was soon out of sight. 



On the 19th, the weather moderated in the morning, 

 but the gale came on again with <nvater force towards 



