GERIAH. 
15 
exist amongst Europeans; but whether it be human or divine, few of 
them can decide. 
We sailed by the Sacrifice Rock, so called from its having been the 
place of execution of those unfortunate persons who fell into the 
hands of Angria, the famous pirate of Malabar, who flourished in 
the middle of last century. It is now the resort of a most numerous 
and noisy progeny of seafowl, and is easily distinguished, being much 
whitened by their slime. 
On the 8th of January, 1811, we stood close into Geriah, which 
was the strong-hold of Angria, and which was taken from him in 1756 
by Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive. The country here ceases 
to wear the verdant appearance which it has more to the south¬ 
ward, and the line of cocoa nut and other trees of a similar species, 
which before skirted the shore, are now no longer to be seen. We 
found the navigation up this coast extremely tedious, owing to the want 
of strength and regularity in the sea breezes. Although it displeased 
our navigators, who were sighing after the gales of wind of lat. 40° S., 
yet it was highly suited to the taste of the indolent and peaceful 
natives, who were to be seen in great numbers creeping along in their 
boats, the picturesque sails of which were scarcely filled by the light 
winds that skimmed the sea. On the 10th of January we passed Fort 
Vittoria, surrounded by a barren coast, and on the following day at 
sunset, we distinguished the light-house of Bombay, which can be seen 
eighteen miles off. The next morning we cast our anchor in Bombay 
harbour, having completed a voyage which, summed up on the ship’s 
log, amounted to 18,589 nautical miles in the space of five months and 
twenty-five days. 
Although long voyages, such as that which we have just completed, 
are certainly monotonous to a degree that would try the most philo¬ 
sophic mind, yet it by no means follows that they merely consume 
time. The ocean is indeed a solitude the most awful and solemn that 
exists, and it may be the means not only of forcing the meditations of 
a man of the world to his own breast, but also of exciting to sublimer 
