Pkoud Albion. 
3 
tel* quarters. The immense number of vessels, from schooner to East 
Judiaman, naturally claimed my entire interest because these were the 
lirst large sea-going vessels 1 had ever seen. 
7. On the fallowing morning we boarded the big steamer “Giraffe” 
that was to take us to the capital of the civilized world. Our travelling 
companions were but few; but hardly had the land disappeared from 
view than that ghastly bug-bear, sea-sickness, entered our circle and 
drove one of us after the other from deck to saloon. This few hours' 
foretaste proved quite sufficient to let me conclude what was waiting 
ahead for me. At four o’clock in the morning we reached the mouth of 
the Thames when the moaning and groaning of the pale-faced passen- 
gers gradually eased down. 
8. Getting on deck, proud Albion, the sea-encircled isle, the empor- 
ium for the riches of all the world, had already taken me to her own, 
while the smoking chimneys, and beautifully constructed and animated 
banks acclaimed “Rule Britannia” from both their shores in self-con- 
scious national pride. Sheerness with its strongly fortified Fort, and 
Chatham with its wharves and Royal Marine Arsenal already lay in 
the dim distance far behind, whereas ahead, there rose the little township 
of Gravesend, in the background of which a grey dark misty and smoky 
cloud indicated the site of the Giant City where already the fate of dif- 
ferent portions of the world had so often been decided. 
9. Immediately beyond Gravesend the environs of the Thames 
again became more uniform, the banks flat and swampy, even the sea 
wall seemed to be in bad condition. But as Woolwich came into view, 
this uniformity disappeared, and from out of the well-known Artillery 
park, the immense Arsenals, and wharves of the Royal Marine f Dock- 
yards) there fell upon our ears an uproar, that found its echo in the 
confused din of innumerable steam-engines on the opposite shore. The 
heaped up stores in that field of wood and iron, the number of Dock- 
yards and Timber-yards for building and repairing the largest ships of 
the line, the innumerable Saw and Planing mills, the multifarious ham- 
mering in the anchor-smith's and cannon foundry, all proclaimed loudly 
enough that England indeed sways her Sceptre of Sovereignty over all 
the seas. 
II). The Dock-yards and Magazines were generally surrounded with 
immense walls, and all approaches seemed to be occupied by strong 
guards. Among the buildings that must strike every stranger the Mil- 
itary Academy which stands immediately behind the yards, and the 
Riding School, built in the style of a Grecian temple, with the Artil- 
lery Barracks attached, are particularly prominent, while to the west- 
ward rise the huge Barracks of the Marines. 
11. But one did not really want to look for signs of hustle and bus- 
tle only on the still far distant shores, for around and close to the roar- 
ing steamer this had developed to so high a, pitch that she was several 
times forced to reduce her speed. Boats, schooners, merchantmen and 
steamers passing up and down stream, reduced the broad waters of the 
Thames that were slowly rolling down into the sea, to a narrow chan- 
nel, and I gazed in wonderment at the strange picture that human in- 
dustry and activity was unfolding until my eyes rested on a dismasted 
and unrigged colossus, the huge hull of one of those former ships of the 
line, that was now doing duty as a hulk for convicts for New Hoi- 
