2 The Gardens of the Sim. [en, i. 



falling down a well, and the crash made when I reached 

 the bottom awoke me. I forgot for the moment where I 

 was, but my first impressions were that, Zazel-like, I 

 had been shot out of a cannon, and that I was whirling 

 round chain-shot fashion. Instinctively stretching out 

 my hands, I found myself in my berth, but the ship was 

 plunging and rolling very much, and everything move- 

 able was knocking about in all directions. Another 

 crash, similar to the one which awoke me, told of loose 

 crockery going to destruction in the steward's pantry. 



I spent some time in trying to decide whether the ship 

 was playing at leapfrog, or trying to turn a somersault. 

 A " sea change " put an end to my deliberations. Sleep 

 was impossible, and I was glad when morning came, and 

 I held on to the berth with one hand, and dressed with 

 the other. That man of the sea was right. We had 

 "got" it, and no mistake; and we continued to "get 

 it " until oif Cape St. Vincent, when we regained smooth 

 water. 



Cape St. Vincent is a rocky bluff, crested with a ruined 

 convent and a lighthouse, the white walls of which gleam 

 out brightly in the sunshine, although we are fully ten 

 miles away. After we have passed it, and look back, it 

 forms a much more picturesque object than when seen 

 directly opposite ; and in front of the nearly perpendi- 

 cular cliffs is a curious cone-shaped rock, and through 

 the narrow passage between this and the mainland, 

 tradition says an American skipper ran his vessel for a 

 wager, and got through safely. The whole coast here is 

 bold and rocky, but not dangerous. Large craft may 

 ride close in under the cliffs. 



A few miles further along is Cape Sartenius, a rocky 

 headland, which rises perpendicularly from the sea, and 

 is crowned with a fort and lighthouse ; and from this 



