24 Cape Farewell. 



to go through, generally the same description of 

 food to eat, the same jokes by our skipper, and the 

 same stories to listen to, enlivened occasionally by 

 an Irish song, a recitation from Shakespeare, or a 

 reading from Artemus Ward. 



Monday, May 12th. — Last night was the most 

 wretched and uncomfortable we have passed since 

 being at sea. JN"ot only was the ship knocking 

 about in an unpleasant manner, but, not having 

 obtained sights for three days, we were all a little 

 anxious regarding her position, especially as we 

 were running along at the rate of eleven knots. 

 At 2 a.m. land was discovered on our starboard 

 bow, a capital land-fall, and at half-past seven I was 

 enabled to take a rough sketch (though at the 

 distance of about thirty miles) of Cape Farewell, 

 the Staten-huk of the Dutch, and of Cape Desola- 

 tion, the Cape Farewell of the Dutch. It was a 

 fine clear morning, enabling us to get a good view 

 of the distant land, which appeared bold, bleak, 

 and rugged, and seemed to consist of a number of 

 sharp, conical- shaped black hills, covered, where 

 the summits were not too peaked, with snow. The 

 strong contrast of the black and white gave the 

 land a most sublime and picturesque appearance. 

 The wind, which had lulled considerably, was blow- 

 ing directly off the land, causing the temperature 

 to fall several degrees. We may consider ourselves 

 very lucky in getting round the cape with such 



