1846-47 LEAVES ENGLAND 



33 



inviting the members of the wardroom to meet as a court 

 of honour, laid his case before them, and challenged his 

 accuser to bring forward any tittle of evidence in support 

 of his insinuations. The latter had nothing to say for him- 

 self, and made a formal retraction and apology. A signed 

 account of the proceedings was kept by the first officer, and 

 a duplicate by Huxley, as a defence against any possible 

 revival of the slander. 



On December 3, 1846, the Rattlesnake frigate left Spit- 

 head, but touched again at Plymouth to ship £65,000 of 

 specie for the Cape. This delay was no pleasure to the 

 young Huxley ; it only served to renew the pain of parting 

 from home, so that, after writing a last letter to reassure 

 his mother as to the comfort of his present quarters, he was 

 glad to lose sight of the English coast on the nth. 



Madeira was reached on the i8th. On the 26th they 

 sailed for Rio de Janeiro, where they stayed from January 23 

 to February 2, 1847. Here Huxley had his first experience 

 of tropical dredging in Botafago Bay, with Macgillivray, 

 naturalist to the expedition. It was a memorable occasion, 

 the more so, because in the absence of a sieve they were 

 compelled to use their hands as strainers the first day. 

 Happily the want was afterwards supplied by a meat cover. 

 From the following letter it seems that several prizes of 

 value were taken in the dredge : — 



Rio Janeiro, ya». 24, 1847. 

 My dear Mother — Four weeks of lovely weather and un- 

 interrupted fair winds brought us to this southern fairyland. 

 In my last letter I told you a considerable yarn about Madeira, 

 I guess, and so for fear lest you should imagine me scenery 

 mad I will spare you any description of Rio Harbour. Suffice 

 it to say that it contends with the Bay of Naples for the title 

 of the most beautiful place in the world. It must beat Naples 

 in luxuriance and variety of vegetation, but from all accounts, 

 to say nothing of George's * picture, falls behind it in the col- 

 ours of sky and sea, that of the latter being in the harbour and 

 for some distance outside of a dirty olive green like the wash- 

 ings of a painter's palette. 



* His eldest brother. 



