4 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. I. 



steward, our crew consisted of three men and a boy; 

 our fellow-passengers being two adventurers, who 

 occupied the berth opposite to our own in the only 

 cabin, and a tailor, with his wife and nine daughters, 

 some marriageable, others at the breast. This unfor- 

 tunate family, every member of which was sea-sick 

 during the whole voyage, located themselves in the 

 steerage, an apartment about eight feet square, ven- 

 tilated only by the hatchway. The passage up the 

 coast at that season seldom occupies more than three 

 days, but the fates decreeing that our progress should 

 still be opposed, adverse winds had taken the place 

 of the north-wester, which had been blowing without 

 intermission during the preceding six weeks, and 

 which, had it but continued a day longer, would 

 have wafted us to our destination. 



The little vessel was usually gunwale under. 

 Stormy seas breaking over her, obliged the tailor 

 to seal up his family hermetically ; heavy lurches 

 during the night ejected us from our narrow pre- 

 cincts, and more than once brought my companion, 

 who slept in a shelf above me, and myself, into 

 awkward and violent collision ; whilst the rolling 

 dui-ing the day repeatedly swept the table, and de- 

 posited the viands in our laps. Being the whole 

 time within sight of land, no observations were 

 taken, and on the afternoon of the eighth day we 

 entered St. Francis' Bay, in mistake for that of 

 Algoa, not discovering our error until we were about 

 to let go the anchor. The opinions on the subject 

 were various and conflicting. The tailor, who had 



