THE OCEAN VOYAGE 91 



French coast near Cherbourg in the southern horizon. 

 The English coast came plainly to view on Saturday 

 forenoon, when we enjoyed clear weather which, how- 

 ever, did not enable us to see much more of it than we 

 had seen of the French coast, as our last glimpse of Eng- 

 land or Europe was taken about three o'clock in the after- 

 noon, when we reached within a mile the cliff of Eddy- 

 stone. The fresh sea-breeze and customary fog did not 

 permit us to tarry and we soon lost sight of the island, 

 which consists of two black cliffs, separated by a small 

 canal, the larger one of which projects about twenty feet 

 and is made noticeable by its celebrated lighthouse. 



Landsend, as it is called, was reached about eight 

 o'clock Sunday morning under stormy N. N. W. wind, 

 with no land in sight. Thus commenced a new turn in 

 my voyage, not wholly agreeable. When we entered the 

 Atlantic Ocean or rather the Bay of Biscaya, the weather 

 was so cold that I felt compelled to wear my heavy sack 

 coat whenever I intended to stay on deck. 



As long as we remained in the Spanish sea, passing- 

 Cape' Finisterre (Spain) on Thursday, the 26th, wind 

 and weather were rather favorable, though the fori no- 

 blew but lightly, while the latter continued cold. From 

 the day we had left the Channel I noticed a remarkable 

 change in the color of the water. While the North sea 

 and Channel differ little from the Baltic, being all dark 

 blue green in color, the two former are considerably clear- 

 er than our native sea, which is the case of the Atlantic 

 waters. I cannot find a suitable expression to describe 

 the clear, transparent, carmine blue of the Atlantic ocean. 

 The color remains everywhere the same, as I have been 

 unable to see any difference, neither in the tropics nor 

 in the southern hemisphere is it more beautiful than at 

 the entrance into the Bay of Biscaya. It almost seemed 

 as if the transparency of the water was more noticeable 

 when we approached the Equator and lessened as we went 

 more southward bnt in that I may have been mistaken; 

 at all events the difference would be very slight. To give 

 you a correct idea I will say that we could distinguish 



