56 FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
little girl who coveted another little girl's frock, or whose 
own frock did not fit — I forget which ; but it seemed to 
me hardly the sort of thing to give a man to read on a 
nine months' cruise. Sermons in Candles was a book with 
a binding, sent for the cabin. It dealt, in extremely subtle 
allegories, of candles and ethics. One hundred and sixty- 
nine pages of similes there were, between candles (wax 
and tallow) and religious principles : e.g., 1 If you have no 
candle-stick, a ginger-beer bottle does mightily well. How 
In the dog-watch. 
often our Lord has used men of scanty education !' This 
may be true, but is it not a pity that such similes should 
have to rough it on a whaler? All thanks, though, to 
those who gave the books : their intentions were kindly. 
Last night our engine stopped grinding: what a relief 
it Avas ! It is a tiny machine, but the doctor and I sleep 
right above it, so we have the full benefit of the vibrations. 
The change from the throbbing and the ' in-and-out J 
