14 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



can doubt ; but I fear, if this easterly breeze hold, it will 

 be some time ere the good people of London have the 

 pleasure of eating her oranges. 



Large as we are, we are slipping through the water 

 at a wonderful pace, yet so easily, so apparently with- 

 out exertion, that one marvels to himself how quickly 

 vessels are overtaken and left hull down by us. On the 

 port beam a smart, tidy, three-masted, schooner-rigged 

 steamship, pronounced by adepts to be of the Cork and 

 London line, expresses an evident intention to cross 

 our bows ; but she has calculated without her host, for 

 our craft has it all her own way, and the little one has 

 to give place and go astern. Many accidents occur, 

 many valuable lives are lost, and noble ships sunk by 

 such attempts as this ; though, after all, one must not 

 be too severe on our sailors. They may occasionally 

 make mistakes and cause danger ; but if you want a 

 specimen of the regular dare-devil type of reckless, 

 thorough disregard for their own and other people's 

 lives if, in fact, you want a new sensation, and one 

 to be remembered take a trip down the Mississippi 

 when trade is brisk and opposition companies have 

 boats upon the same route. On such occasions I have 

 known it a fact that the furnaces have been fed with 

 fat, and it was said that the safety-valve was tied down 

 with a crow-bar or a couple of niggers ! 



That night, our second after leaving London, there 

 was a slight attempt to get up a reunion by the main 

 hatch. Lighted pipes glowed around that part of the 

 deck, while thirsty souls at frequent intervals, and in 

 rather mysterious manner, stole down to the precincts 

 of the bar. A few days will alter all this ; passengers 

 will become sociable and drink together ; the rich will 



