4*2 
LETTERS FROM 
shaped a course which carried us within 
sight of the African coast, about the middle 
of the second day after we left Gibraltar. 
On the first day we saw no land, though we 
passed very near to Alboran, a small unin¬ 
habited island, which at some seasons of the 
year is said to abound with turtle. 
At nine the next morning (Thursday 21st) 
we passed the meridian of Greenwich. The 
water had now become tolerably smooth, and 
we began to enjoy ourselves again. Though 
we were no longer annoyed by sea-sickness, 
the violent and incessant rolling motion we 
had experienced for the last day or two, was 
very unpleasant, and almost irritating, making 
it impossible for us to walk, or sit, or lie with 
any degree of comfort. We saw the African 
coast once or twice during the day, but so 
indistinctly, that I should have supposed it 
to have been a cloud on the horizon. A 
