14 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



24th. We have passed two of the Azores or 

 Western islands, Flores looked very green ; but 

 the other, Corvo, seems little better than a lofty, 



naked rock. 



- 



26th. We have had a very hot south-easterly 

 wind this morning, which the captain says comes 

 from Africa. He showed us that the sails and 

 ropes were tinged with the reddish sand that 

 these winds generally carry with them. It was 

 quite impalpable to the touch ; and he was for 

 a long time trying to obtain some of it, by wash- 

 ing and roasting, for his microscope. 



26th. I am growing a little tired, dear 



Mamma, of this long voyage, though Mrs. P 



finds continual objects of amusement for me. 

 Sometimes, when there is a heavy swell of the 

 sea, and that the wind blows freshly, we divert 

 ourselves watching the waves : it is curious to 

 see the head of a large wave, just as it rises and 

 meets the wind, dashed off, and changed into 

 foam ; and showing, when we can place our- 

 selves between it and the sun, innumerable little 

 rainbows. 



I happened to say at dinner that I wondered 

 how this constantly moving ocean should ever 

 become frozen into one field of ice ; but the 

 captain told me that the deep ocean never 

 freezes permanently. Any ice that may have 



