The Return Home. 183 



have settled all my business as well as I could, taken mj 

 passage on board the packet-ship Columbia, Captain 

 Joseph Delano, to sail from Portsmouth, and paid thirt} 

 pounds for my passage. 



"April i. I went by mail to the smoky city of Ports- 

 mouth ; have hoisted the anchor, am at sea, and sea-sick. 



" The cry of land, land, land ! ' thrice repeated, roused 

 me from my torpor, and acted like champagne to refresh 

 my spirits. I rushed on deck, and saw in the distance a 

 deep gray line, like a wall along the horizon, and toward 

 which the ship was rolling and cutting her way. My 

 heart swelled with joy, and all seemed like a pleasant 

 dream at first ; but as soon as the reality was fairly im- 

 pressed on my mind, tears of joy rolled down my cheeks. 

 I clasped my hands, and fell on my knees, and raising 

 ray eyes to heaven that happy land above I offered my 

 thanks to our God, that He had preserved and prospered 

 me in my long absence, and once more permitted me to 

 approach these shores so dear to me, and which hold my 

 heart's best earthly treasures. 



" May 5. New York. I have brought thee, my En- 

 glish book, all the way across the Atlantic, too sea-sick 

 to hold any converse with thee sea-sick all the way, 

 until the morning when I saw my dear native land. But 

 no matter, I have safely landed. We left England with 

 one hundred and fifty souls, and put them all ashore at 

 New York, except one poor black fellow, who thought 

 proper to put an end to his existence by jumping over- 

 board one dark night. A Mr. Benjamin Smith subscribed 

 to my work on the passage. He had his family, eight 

 servants, five dogs, and cloth and twine enough to fly 

 kites the world over an excellent and benevolent man. 



" My state-room companion was a colonel from Rus- 

 sia, named Sir Isaac Coffin, and he did all he could to 

 make the voyage as pleasant as possible under the cir 



