REMINISCENCES OF A VOYAGE TO AND FROM CHINA. 261 
manders, and the trim of the vessels,, were very apparent. While the 
King’s ships and the greater part of the Indiamen were close-hauled 
to windward^ the foreign frigates were gone many miles, sometimes out 
of sight, to leeward;—of course the whole fleet had to proceed under 
easy sail till these ships regained their stations. 
These gales were only a foretaste of what we had to expect in 
doubling the Cape in the depth of winter; and unluckily, when we 
were approaching the longitude of that place, the wind was contrary. 
We were delayed ten days beating round the Cape, sometimes stretch¬ 
ing as far to the southward as the thirty-ninth degree of south latitude, 
where the thermometer fell to fifty-five degrees. But what was worse 
for our invalid charge, we encountered two tremendous gales, in which 
all the ships had to lay-to—once for two days and nights together, and 
during that time was constantly drenched with heavy rain, or pelted 
with violent storms of hail; at the same time a heavy spray was dashed 
every minute over every part of the ship, and the vapour raised from 
the frothy crests of the waves by the wind pervaded every opening 
about the ship. 
Under this ungenial state of the weather, the plants were closely 
shut up, the weather-curtain being constantly kept down—air being 
given only on the leeward side. 
When the fleet had weathered the Cape and taken the direct course 
to St. Helena, the weather became moderate and very fine. We eagerly 
exposed the plants, to see what changes had taken place. We found 
that during their confinement many of the leaves had fallen, or were 
withered either by the cold or spray. There were no signs of improve¬ 
ment : and it became perfectly obvious, that as there was still a three- 
months’ voyage before us, there were but feeble hopes that more than 
one-half of the whole number would ever reach England alive. They 
had yet another fiery ordeal to pass through ere they reached their 
destination, and there was but little chance that they could be reco 
vered by the same means and care which had been but too ineffectually 
bestowed during the early part of the voyage. 
In this, to us, distressing view of the case, and even at that time, we 
immediately began concerting measures for a second voyage to China 
on a similar errand. From the instructions we had left with the old 
gardener at Canton, we were convinced that he would immediately set 
about preparing a collection of desirable plants in pots, to be thoroughly 
established therein before they might be called for by the next pur¬ 
chaser ; and we also left with him a long list (written in his own 
language by a very clever linguist whom we employed) of seeds which 
