SEA-SICKNESS. 223 



men, and especially of Wickham, the first lieutenant, as a 

 " glorious fellow." The latter being responsible for the smart- 

 ness and appearance of the ship strongly objected to his 

 littering the decks, and spoke of specimens as " d d beastly 

 devilment," and used to add, " If I were skipper, I would soon 

 have you and all your d d mess out of the place." 



A sort of halo of sanctity was given to my father by the 

 fact of his dining in the Captain's cabin, so that the midship- 

 men used at first to call him " Sir," a formality, however, 

 which did not prevent his becoming fast friends with the 

 younger officers. He wrote about the year 1861 or 1862 

 to Mr. P. G. King, M.L.C., Sydney, who, as before stated, 

 was a midshipman on board the Beagle : " The remembrance 

 of old days, when we used to sit and talk on the booms of 

 the Beagle, will always, to the day of my death, make me 

 glad to hear of your happiness and prosperity." Mr. King 

 describes the pleasure my father seemed to take " in pointing 

 out to me as a youngster the delights of the tropical nights, 

 with their balmy breezes eddying out of the sails above us, 

 and the sea lighted up by the passage of the ship through 

 the never-ending streams of phosphorescent animalculae." 



It has been assumed that his ill-health in later years was 

 due to his having suffered so much from sea-sickness. This 

 he did not himself believe, but rather ascribed his bad health 

 to the hereditary fault which came out as gout in some of 

 the past generations. I am not quite clear as to how much 

 he actually suffered from sea-sickness ; my impression is 

 distinct that, according to his own memory, he was not 

 actually ill after the first three weeks, but constantly uncom- 

 fortable when the vessel pitched at all heavily. But, judging 

 from his letters, and from the evidence of some of the officers, 

 it would seem that in later years he forgot the extent of the 

 discomfort from which he suffered. Writing June 3, 1836, 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, he says : " It is a lucky thing 

 for me that the voyage is drawing to its close, for I positively 



