THE LAYING OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 257 



gards the consumption on board. Of our live stock 

 there only remained fifty sheep, a few pigs, and 

 some score or so of fowls ; but the havoc made 

 must not be wholly ascribed to the voracity of man. 

 In taking my morning stroll amongst the animals 

 I daily noticed a gap in the oxen-shed, and know- 

 ing that there was plenty of fresh meat in the ice- 

 cellar, I was anxious to know the reason. The 

 butcher (he is not an Irishman) informed me that 

 the oxen were killed in order to save their lives, 

 and that their gradual decay was owing to the water 

 they drank. I am not sufficient of a chemist to 

 know the properties of condensed water, but how- 

 ever great a blessing is the discovery of turning 

 the sea-waves into fresh water, it certainly does not 

 contribute to the prolongation of animal life. It 

 had been death to the ducks, the cow, and the 

 oxen ; nor had it improved the sheep, so destroying 

 their natural instincts that they tamely submitted 

 to the interested caresses of their greatest enemy, 

 the two-legged wolf. The pigs alone have thrived, 

 but on what will they not fatten and grunt ? To 

 dismiss these interesting creatures : the fifty sheep 

 have been purchased by Mr Gooch ; and " Billy," 

 round whose neck the young Eussells tied a pink 

 string to save him from the butcher's knife, is to 

 pass the rest of his days in clover. 



Early on Thursday, August 17th, we reached 

 Crookhaven, and there Dr Russell, with three other 



