88 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



gar for every passenger. Each one, of course, had to 

 clean his tinware, etc., and was then at liberty to do as he 

 chose until tea-time, which was about half-past six or 

 earlier, according to the approach of darkness; it was 

 distributed like the coffee, and everybody was af liberty 

 to add sugar or brandy to suit himself. I preferred to 

 drink both tea and coffee without any addition.. Bed- 

 time was not set. 



This -way of living appears very monotonous, as every 

 day is the precise renewal of the preceding one; and con- 

 sequently most passengers were more annoyed by ennui 

 than they had previously been by seasickness. As to 

 myself I have not given up my old belief that a man is 

 to a great extent the arbiter or maker of his own experi- 

 ences—the cause of the effects. I never suffered for want 

 of something to do or think about, and I have stood as 

 much and perhaps more chance of becoming lonesome 

 than any one else on board. Of course I looked around 

 for some agreeable work to kill time with, and thus I 

 took to painting, of which there is always plenty to be 

 done on board a vessel. If it really happened that I could 

 not find anything to do, I enjoyed a rest as well, particu- 

 larly in the evening about tea-time. Sitting on the rear 

 end, my feet dangling over the rail, I watched the ever- 

 changing course of waves and clouds for hours, and en- 

 joying my cigar. Wondrously beautiful were the pic- 

 tures of nature at sun-set, when waves and clouds ap- 

 peared in magnificent colors, especially in the tropics of 

 the Atlantic; later in the evening, when the play of col- 

 ors ceased, the soft light of the moon played strange 

 tricks, outlining all kinds of fantastic forms and shapes, 

 and enveloping them with a silvery halo. 



Thus were the clouds distributed on the horizon of the 

 dark blue Heavens, bestrewn with millions of shining 

 lights, large and small, and separated from the rising and 

 falling waves of the ocean, the ever-swinging surface of 

 which reproduces in magnificence the thousands of little 

 white stars, throwing them, as it seems, about and reflect- 

 ing the glittering rays of the moon, which is resting on 



