FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 99 
... A letter was handed on board to-night addressed 
to the cabin. It was delivered by a special messenger 
from his Royal Highness Neptune, King of the Seas, and 
was very friendly and nice, and the spelling was a treat. 
Neptune proposes to pay us a visit shortly ; he under- 
stands we have some young men on board who have 
not crossed the line yet, these he would like to deal with 
as is customary in these parts. 
This has been a long, hot day of trifling events, and the 
sun has gone down quite ashamed of its dilatoriness. 
Such a flush of hectic colour there was ! It would have 
staggered a bad scene-painter. A n exquisite crescent 
moon followed, and in consequence there was much turning 
of luck-pennies. Poor moon ! she came very close to her 
lover — chased him right down to the horizon ; but she must 
have felt quite ashamed of his angry display of crude red 
and saffron and chrome yellow as he went down. Objects 
seen in this golden evening light are very beautiful, but 
the sky effects are monotonous and crude to my mind ; 
besides, the sun drops behind the horizon with such an 
undignified plump. Far more beautiful are the evenings 
at home, when he sinks grandly and slowly behind 
the purple islands of the west — a lingering, graceful 
obeisance, — trailing his golden hair through the cool 
weft of the northern lights. 
