OUR LANDFALL. 



19 



ated en/ants terribles, and lacking but one little 

 dispensation of nature — concerning which Hum- 

 boldt treats — to become the best of wet-nurses. 

 The c Elphinstone ' belonged not to the category 

 c Shippe of Helle,' one of whose squadron I have 

 described in an old voyage to a certain c Un- 

 happy Valley.' We would willingly have pro- 

 longed our cruise with the jovial captain, and 

 with the good fellows and gallant gentlemen in 

 the gun-room, over many and many a league of 

 waves. 



Of course we had no adventures. We saw 

 neither pirate nor slaver. The tract seemed de- 

 sert of human life ; in fact, nothing met our eyes 

 but flying-fish at sea, gulls and gannets near 

 shore. The stiff N. East trade never quite failed 

 us, even when crossing the Line, and the Dol- 

 drums hardly visited us with a tornado or two — 

 mere off-shore squalls. The good old heart of 

 teak, then aged 33 years, made an average of 150, 

 and an exceptional run of 200 knots, in 24 hours. 

 This was indeed c gay sailing on the bosom of the 

 Indian Sea.' After 16 days (Dec. 18), before the 

 solar lamp had been removed, our landfall, a 

 long, low strip at first sky-blue and distance- 

 blurred, had turned purple, and had robed itself 

 in green and gold, with a pomp and a glory of 



