300 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



dry stitch, even among the bedding, on board the Alert. 

 How often do I think of the affectionate kind mother of my 

 childhood, and her anxiety that her boy should not sleep 

 in damp sheets ! Could she see or know the trials and 

 hardships which he, with others, have encountered in his 

 journey through life, her maternal solicitude would receive 

 a severe shock. Truly the journey of life is a rough path, 

 made up of storms and sunshine, wintry snows and tropical 

 showers; one time ascending hills, the next descending ; 

 fortune smiling to-day, frowning to-morrow; ignorant of 

 what the future has in store for us. But, doubtless, all is 

 for the best, and those troubles and temptations which in 

 our spleen we grumble at, are but intended to fit us for our 

 ultimate resting-place, where perpetual sunshine and un- 

 clouded happiness will reign for ever. 



Next morning, when day awoke me, I was delighted to 

 find that we were once more on a level keel, and when I 

 gained the deck, so bright and joyous appeared the weather, 

 that you could imagine that nature was laughing and 

 enjoying our previous discomfort. Sambo, the cook, soon 

 supplied me with a cup of coffee, which, with my morning 

 pipe, I thoroughly enjoyed, while I watched the detached 

 banks of fog roll lazily over the water, occasionally shutting 

 out or opening vistas of the distance. The whole water 

 was alive with fish, the surface in many places being 

 broken, and resembling the rapids of a river, with their 

 gambols; but soon a giant porpoise would roll in among 

 them, when all the terrified fry would disappear for a few 

 minutes, to re-present themselves when the intruder had 

 departed. Gulls, in immense numbers, floated upon the 



