FROM LONDON TO TAMATAYE. 
21 
H.M.S. Shearwater cheered us as we passed out 
of the harbour, and, having dipped flags, the 
Mauritius gradually sank out of sight, and we 
were stretching away for our future home in 
the great western island. Our experiences were 
pleasant enough of the passage; it only lasted 
two days; the captain was most agreeable; and 
as the weather was fine, we spent most of our 
time on deck, where we also had our meals, 
which, as they were confined chiefly to fruit, did 
not suffer from the bad cooking about which we 
had heard so much. The strangely untidy ap¬ 
pearance of everything on board our craft—the 
creaking timbers and gaping deck, through which 
we could catch fitful glimpses of all that was going 
on below—the vivacity of our captain, and the 
general originality of the whole position,—grati¬ 
fied us, and, as far as I was concerned, quite made 
up for lack of table-cloths, beds, or an elaborate 
cuisine. Captain Judic was an epicure in his way, 
however, and his particular weakness seemed to 
be an early al fresco meal of oysters; and he 
looked the picture of contentment with the little 
barrel of bivalves between his knees, from which 
he took his oysters one by one, opened and 
swallowed them with every sign of relish, and 
pitched the shells at his negro cabin-boy, who 
stood grinning at a short distance, trying to catch 
the missiles as they flew past him. Poor Judic 
