36 VOYAGES. 



of ocean, are dull and tedious to an almost insufferable 

 degree. Life aboard ship has in fact been compared, 

 in a moment of unwonted levity, by the great Dr. 

 Johnson, to " a prison with the chance of being drowned. " 



Personally however, we must say for ourselves that 

 we have never found this to be the case. Perhaps 

 our readers would kindly bear with us while we state 

 our experiences in this matter, though as a rule we 

 prefer not to mix up our personal feelings and 

 recollections w r ith the records of the phenomena of 

 Nature described in these pages. Our maritime 

 experiences in the course of our wanderings to and 

 fro over the earth's surface have of necessity been 

 many and various; in all kinds of ships, belonging to 

 people of many nations, and in all sorts of climates, 

 and weathers; and we are free to observe that no- 

 where can a man be more comfortable or pass a more 

 enjoyable period of existence, than during a prosperous 

 voyage, when all goes well, on board a large and well 

 found ship. At sea, as a rule, the worries of the 

 great world with its whirl and turmoil, are left behind 

 on shore ; and there is nothing to disturb the sense of 

 infinite peace and rest to the nervous system which 

 an ocean voyage supplies to a man of a well-balanced 

 mind. 



The number of invalids that now-a-days take advan- 

 tage of these changes of scene and climate, is very 

 large. In the case of the great P. & O. lines to India 

 and Australia for example, this class of passengers 

 forms quite an item in their ocean-going traffic, of 

 considerable importance from a business point of view ; 

 and in the experiences of the South African and other 

 shipping companies, the results are similar. It is quite 



