448 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CIIAP. XVI. 
' Judge Surtees, and Mr. William L’Estrange. Mr. Dowland, 
acting colonial secretary, also offered me the hospitality of 
his country residence, until at length the " England” steamer 
arrived at Port Louis; and on board this fine vessel, com¬ 
manded by Captain Dundas, I embarked for England on the 
13th of January, 1857. 
It was the season of cyclones, or hurricanes, and these 
atmospheric disturbances are as frequent and as violent in 
the neighbourhood of Mauritius as in any other part of the 
world. A few days after we had left the island, we ex¬ 
perienced as severe a gale and as high a sea as I remember 
ever to have witnessed, either off Cape Horn or the Cape of 
Hood Hope. We could only show canvass enough to keep 
the ship steady, and yet were driven along at a fearful rate, 
while the sea broke in cascades, first over one side of the 
bulwarks and then the other; and rolling like a torrent fore 
and aft, as the ship rose or sunk with the waves, swept away 
everything that was not secured by fastenings. Our captain 
regarded it as the tail of a hurricane, more especially as the 
wind changed rapidly to opposite quarters. After the second 
day, however, the weather became moderate, and we pursued 
our voyage without inconvenience. 
Two days afterwards, viz. on the 21st of January, while 
sitting in the captain’s state-room, waiting for him to mark 
our position on the chart, I took from his shelves a book in 
which I soon became interested. When we had looked at the 
chart, I remarked that I had met with an old friend whom I 
did not expect to find on board the “ England,” and held up 
“ The Loss of the f Winterton,’ East Indiaman,” by the late 
Mr. Buchan, of Kelloe, observing that I knew the author, from 
whom I had many years ago received a copy of his book. 
Captain Dundas replied that Mr. Buchan was related to his 
mother, and that the captain of the “ Winterton” was his 
grandfather. I then recollected that Dundas was the name of 
o 
