Wan Ghost of Sea Sickness. 
9 
34. In the cabin we found our two fellow-passengers : a pale young 
lady with those wistful limpid ( tiefsinnigen schwimmenden) eyes so 
characteristic of Englishwomen that renders them so very charming if at 
all backed by a nice complexion, and a ybung Scotsman who, as it turned 
out later, was a Customs officer on his transfer out to Georgetown. The 
former was hastening yonder to an uncle and possibly to a rich husband, 
a calculation that unfortunately proved deceptive, because after a three 
years' stay she returned to London without one. 
35. The narrow quarters soon broke the ice, mutual acquaintances 
were struck up, and the usual bets made between the prospective 
passengers as to the day upon which we would reach our longed-for 
haven. Each one fixed the amount he wagered on the day we were to 
touch terra firma at Georgetown, and everybody hoped he would pick 
the right one and win the stakes. 
3G. We were awakened already before daybreak by the lively bustle 
and noise taking place on the decks together with the rhythmic singing 
of the sailors while heaving anchor, and the steamer that was to tow 
us again to-day as far as the mouth of the Thames, soon put in her 
appearance. Thick snow covered the banks of the river. The nearer we 
got to tlie mouth, the higher towered the waves, the more unsettled 
became the motion of the ship, the more rapidly I experienced those 
uncomfortable sensations premonitory to sea-sickness. We had hardly, 
left the estuary than I fell a victim to the wan ghost. During ten days 
of anguish I lay for the most part unconscious and ate nothing whatever 
except a few oranges. What were the hours spent in groaning when I 
first got sick crossing from Holland to England, as compared with what 
I suffered here? The condition in which one finds oneself is simply 
horrible. The heavy dull oppression in the head, the limited and yet 
augmented breathing of the chest, the painful cramps in the stomach, 
the cold sweat productive of nausea at the very sight or smell of food, the 
continual thirst that never can be quenched, the everlasting longing and 
yearning of the spirit when everything is centred in one single hour’s 
stay upon solid ground — all these torments collectively can only be 
appreciated by one who has suffered sea-sickness in the wholesale line 
like I have. 
37. Banished to my sleeping-quarters I had not the slightest idea 
whether we were still in the Channel, or already making our way across 
the boundless sea : indeed I believe my apathy for everything external 
must have reached such a pitch that, had the Captain told me that the 
ship had stuck on the top of Chimborazo I would have stared at him just 
as unconcernedly as if he had only come to grumble that we had not yet 
passed the Straits. 
38. The sun of December 29tb shone so invitingly through the port- 
hole, that I suddenly felt the wish awakening to try at least to reach 
the deck. The worst of the complaint was over: I succeeded in the 
attempt. But what a change had taken place in the surroundings since 
my last visit! My eyes looked in vain for land, only a few sea-gulls 
(Sterna) that swarmed around the ship, indicating that the coast could 
not be very distant. The favourable wind had quickened our journey 
through the Channel and we were already in the Atlantic. 
39. How I envied Mr- Richie, the voung Customs officer, who had 
never suffered sea-sickness for a moment, although this was his very first 
