VOYAGE TO ALGERIA. 123 



ever placed a boat at my disposal. Four hardy fellows 

 and one of the ship's officers jumped into it; my luggage, 

 hastily thrown together, was tumbled in, and we were im- 

 mediately on our way. We had nearly four miles to row 

 in about twenty minutes; but we hoped the mail-boat 

 might not be punctual. For a time we watched her 

 anxiously; there was no motion; we came nearer, but the 

 flags were not yet hauled in. The men put forth all 

 their strength, animated by the exhortations of the officer 

 at the helm. The roughness of the sea rendered their 

 efforts to some extent nugatory: still we were rapidly 

 approaching the steamer. At length she moved, punctual 

 almost to the minute, at first slowly, but soon with quick- 

 ened pace. We turned to the left, so as to cut across her 

 bows. Five minutes' pull would have brought us up to 

 her. The officer waved his cap and I my hat. "If they 

 could only see us, they might back to us in a moment/' 

 But they did not see us, or if they did, they paid us no at- 

 tention. I returned to the Urgent, discomfited, but 

 grateful to the fine fellows who had wrought so hard to 

 carry out my wishes. 



Glad of the quiet, in the sober afternoon I took a walk 

 toward Europa Point. The sky darkened and heavy squalls 

 passed at intervals. Private theatricals were at the Con- 

 vent, and the kind and courteous governor had sent cards to 

 the eclipse party. I failed in my duty in not going. St. 

 Michael's Cave is said to rival, if it does not outrival, the 

 Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. On the 28th Mr. Crookes, Mr. 

 Carpenter, and myself, guided by a military policeman who 

 understood his work, explored the cavern. The mouth is 

 about 1,100 feet above the sea. We zigzagged up to it, 

 and first were led into an aperture in the rock, at some 

 height above the true entrance of the cave. In this upper 

 cavern we saw some tall and beautiful stalactite pillars. 



The water drips from the roof charged with bicarbonate 

 of lime. Exposed to the air, the carbonic acid partially 

 escapes, and the simple carbonate of lime, which is hardly 

 at all soluble in water, deposits itself as a solid, forming 

 stalactites and stalagmites. Even the exposure of chalk 

 or limestone water to the open air partially softens it. A 

 specimen of the Redbourne water exposed by Professors 

 Graham, Miller, and Hofmann, in a shallow basin, fell 

 from eighteen degrees to nine degrees of hardness. The 



