Ixxx MEMOIR 



came to signing articles, it turned out that , the new first 



mate, had not a certificate which allowed him to have a second 

 mate. Then came rather an affecting scene. For H - pro- 

 posed to sign as chief (he having the necessary higher certificate) 



but to act as second for the lower wages, At first would 



not give in but offered to go as second. But our brave little 



H said, no : " The owners wished Mr. - to be chief 



mate, and chief mate he should be." So he carried the day, 

 signed as chief and acts as second. Shakespeare and Byron are 

 his favourite books. I walked into Byron a little, but can well 

 understand his stirring up a rough, young sailor's romance. I 

 lent him Westward Ho from the cabin; but to my astonish- 

 ment he did not care much for it ; he said it smelt of the shilling 

 railway library ; perhaps I had praised it too highly. Scott is 

 his standard for novels. I am very happy to find good taste by 

 no means confined to gentlemen, H - having no pretensions 

 to that title. He is a man after my own heart. 



'Then I came down to the cabin and heard young A 's 



schemes for the future. His highest picture is a commission in 

 the Prince of Vizianagram's irregular horse. His eldest bro- 

 ther is tutor to his Highness's children, and grand vizier, and 

 magistrate, and on his Highness's household staff, and seems 

 to be one of those Scotch adventurers one meets with and hears 

 of in queer berths raising cavalry, building palaces, and using 

 some petty Eastern king's long purse with their long Scotch 

 heads. 



' Off Bona : June 4. 



* I read your letter carefully, leaning back in a Maltese boat 

 to present the smallest surface of my body to a grilling sun, and 

 sailing from the Elba to Cape Hamrah about three miles distant. 

 How we fried and sighed! At last, we reached land under 

 Fort Genova, and I was carried ashore pick-a-back, and plucked 

 the first flower I saw for Annie. It was a strange scene, far 

 more novel than I had imagined : the high, steep banks covered 

 with rich, spicy vegetation of which I hardly knew one plant. 

 The dwarf palm with fan-like leaves, growing about two feet 

 high, formed the staple of the verdure. As we brushed through 



