48 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
ciiap. ii. 
on the evening of the 8th of August* at a late hour* took leave 
of our kind friends at the water’s edge and proceeded to our 
ship* grateful for the hospitality shown us by the foreign 
traders* and for the good feeling and general kindness mani¬ 
fested by the chiefs and people. 
Early on the following morning M. Duprat* a native of 
Italy* who had been some years on the island* but had suf¬ 
fered much from fever* from which he was not yet recovered* 
came on board* and we soon afterwards made sail towards 
Mauritius. Our voyage* owing to head winds* calms* the bad 
condition of our rigging, and other causes not unattended 
with danger* was unusually tedious* and from the incon¬ 
veniences on board* and the conduct of the officers* it was 
excessively painful. 
The sun’s rays were generally too strong to allow us to 
leave our little close cabin during the daytime* and when we 
did so* as there was scarcely more than a few feet of clear 
space on deck, exercise was impossible. The only season of 
relief was the evening, and this pleasant time* unless pre¬ 
vented by rain* I always spent on deck* watching the sea and 
the stars; or musing on the land I had recently left* with the 
deeply interesting state of the people by which it was in¬ 
habited ; or thinking of others more remote in my far distant 
and happy home ; and occasionally listening to the mellow or 
falsetto voices of one or two of the Malagasy sailors* who 
sometimes beguiled the hours of the evening watch with their 
simple native songs. 
Ever since we had expressed our apprehensions in conse¬ 
quence of the large quantity of rum brought on board our 
ship* our captain had not only seemed less anxious to make 
our position comfortable* but had occasionally given us un¬ 
necessary annoyance. One day the cabin boy told me he had 
been ordered to pour a kettle of boiling water over some choice 
plants which I had brought from Madagascar and was anxious 
