Prince MaximiliarCs 



the passengers, who had now for the first time become acquainted 

 with the uncertain element on which we were embarked, no verj 

 agreeable foretaste of the pleasures of a sea-life. At length, when 

 the wind became somewhat more favorable, a signal was made by 

 a ship of war, and the whole fleet weighed anchor. But when' 

 evening set in, a new danger threatened us ; the ships sailed so 

 «lose to each other, that they were every moment on the point of 

 running foul. At midnight we fortunately escaped from an acci- 

 dent which had well nigh proved fatal : a large ship in full sail 

 nearly run us down, and passed close alongside, ere the darkness 

 permitted any one on deck to discover the danger. As the violence 

 of the wind continued to increase, we carried little sail. After 

 suffering much from bad weather, we were at last enabled to con- 

 tinue our voyage, and pursue our destined course. We soon 

 sailed past Dungeness, and the beautiful rocky coast of Beachy 

 Head, a promontory in Sussex, between Hastings and Shoreham. 

 At noon we had a view of Brighton, and in the evening, while 

 the sea was tranquil and motionless, and the moon shone brightly, 

 we came in sight of the Isle of Wight. The sailors now resumed 

 their wonted cheerfulness, and the sound of the fiddle and the 

 sprightly dance, soon banished all recollection of the dangers they 

 had encountered. 



On the morning of the ^th of May, we passed the Isle of 

 Wight, and Portland Point, in Dorsetshire, which produces the 

 beautiful stone used for building in England. At night another 

 igale arose, which obliged U9 to stand out to sea, to avoid being 

 wrecked on the rocky coast, and the wind was so heavy that one of 

 our sails was torn from the mast. On the following evening, 

 though the sea was rough, and the wind somewhat unfavourable, 

 we entered the secure road of Torbay, which is broad, and sur- 

 rounded by hills. Portland Point projects on the north, and the 

 Start on the south. Here we determined to wait for better wea- 

 ther, and, if possible, to recover from the fatigue we had under- 

 gone ; but two vessels bound for Brazil, with which we were to 

 sail, fired a gun as the signal for their immediate departure, and 

 we had not even time to finish the letters we were preparing to 

 send on shore. Towards evening we sailed round Start Point ; 

 here a cluster of lofty and steep rocks form a kind of rude pro- 

 montory, on the top of which is a level overgrown with verdure, 

 such as appears along the whole coast of Devonshire. The hills 

 seem partly tinged with yellow, owing to the great abundance of 

 the flowers of the ulex, a shrub which is very common both in 

 England and France. Little islands of rock are here and there 

 visible above the surface of the sea, and with the white foaming 

 waves breaking against them, form a picture which the rays of the 

 departing sun now rendered the more beautiful. On the following 

 morning we caught a distant gUmpse of Fort Pendennis, not far 



