208 STATE OF THE CABLE. 



bitterly cold in the houses destitute of fireplaces or 

 stoves, that my sister-in-law often afterwards declared, 

 that my fur brought from Russia had prevented her 

 from freezing in Spain. It was not before Oran that 

 we thawed again. The necessary preparations were 

 soon made, and we rejoiced in the hope that the 

 whole laying would be over in a few days. But "there's 

 many a slip between the cup and the lip'' - after four 

 weeks' toil and undergoing of grave dangers we had 

 lost the cable, and had to congratulate ourselves that 

 we had not also sustained loss of health or life. 



Judged from the cool standpoint of advanced age 

 this cable-laying was an egregious piece of folly, since 

 cable, ship, and mode of laying were utterly inade- 

 quate. As an excuse for our nevertheless undertaking 

 it only the following reasons can be offered. We 

 desired under any circumstances to lay a cable of our 

 own, because we saw that our inventions and expe- 

 riences were being turned to account by English con- 

 tractors without any regard for us, and even without 

 our undoubted services in the development of sub- 

 marine telegraphy being so much as mentioned: and 

 further, and perhaps mainly, because the cable- construc- 

 tion and paying-out arrangements devised by brother 

 William were so well conceived and interesting, that 

 we had not the heart to leave them unused. 



The cable would have been excellent in every 

 respect if it had remained in the condition in which 

 it left the factory. We were however unfortunately 

 soon convinced that its proper breaking strain had been 



