VISIT TO 'SOUTH AFRICA. 
5 
wave dashes over tlie decks, the spmrks it contains run with the wa- 
ter to and fro, as the ship rolls from side to side. About eleven 
o^clock, assistance was called for in the cabin, as the tiunks and 
other articles had broken loose and w^ere slitling backwards and for- 
wards on the floor. The dooi- of the pigstye being forced open, the 
poor animals ran in great consternation backwards and forwards on 
deck, and one having the misfortune to fall headlong down the ca- 
bin stairs, the noise of its fall and its cries added to tlie terror of the 
scene. The wind however being fair, we w ere thankful, amidst all 
the restlessness occasioned by the ship's motion, that we were getting 
fast forward. 
10th and 11th were tolerably quiet days, but on the 12th the 
wind turned against us, and though above 240 miles off the coast 
of Portugal, the captain thought it unsafe to proceed farther to- 
wards the south-enst, the direction in which we were then steering, 
and towards evening tacked and stretched towards the north-west, 
the wind from the southward rising, and every now and then 
squalls with rain increasing its force. The sea was now in a terri- 
ble ferment and assailed the ship on all sides, but particularly 
from the north-west, fiom whence a heavy swell came rolling to- 
wards us in tremendous surges. We ran under close-reefed top- 
sails, keeping as near as possible to the wind, against a head-sea; 
but at two in the morning the wjnd shifting, put about again and 
kept on our course. The morning turned out line, and a very large 
shoal of porpoises played about the ship. 
When I sometimes sit on deck, surveying this immeasurable 
deep, I think, Surely, He that made the sea and -all that is therein, 
did not intend that it should be only the playground of the many 
different tribes of fishes that tiit through its upper regions and skiui 
along its surface, but the habitation also of innumerable creatures 
of His hand, that walk upon its bottom, probably with shapes, 
properties and pov,ers, unknov. n to us. I am ready to exclnim 
with the Psalmist, " 0 Loid! how^ manifold are Thy works! In 
" wisdom hast Thou made them ail: I'hc earth is fullof Tliy riches. 
