A FORLORN QUEST, ETC. 247 



be a physical fact that the hands of most of the 

 natives are crooked at birth, owing to generations 

 of alms-seeking forbears. 



We hurried over breakfast so as to be at the 

 disposal of the Reis the moment he should come 

 for us, and he, having ensured several dollars, 

 fish or no fish, remained at anchor for another two 

 hours. At length we got off, and they put us in 

 a great basket, which apparently held stale bait 

 at other times. It was firmly wedged against 

 the side of the boat, 'and for this we presently 

 had reason to be grateful, for no sooner were we 

 round the point, beneath the lighthouse, than we 

 saw what we were in for. If the sea had looked 

 rough from camp, it resembled at close quarters 

 fancy paintings of the Bay of Biscay out of temper. 

 Up we went on a breaking wave, which drenched 

 the oarsmen from bow to stern ; down we came 

 with the vacant sensation, which is so disagreeable 

 even to good sailors. 



" . . . . Salt entered mouth and eyes 

 Often enough. ..." 



Things went a little more smoothly when 

 the sail was hoisted, but even so the antics of so 

 heavy a boat were not unlike those of an anchored 

 lightship, which had previously been my standard 

 of the tortures of purgatory. We held on bravely, 

 though, and it was not until I had been shot out 



