Chapter V: Notes of Telegraph Voyages, 1858-1873 (2)

"Yesterday we ran round to the new harbour [of Alexandria], landed the
shore-end of the cable close to Cleopatra's bath, and made a very
satisfactory start about one in the afternoon. We had scarcely gone
200 yards when I noticed that the cable ceased to run out, and I
wondered why the ship had stopped. People ran aft to tell me not to
put such a strain on the cable; I answered indignantly that there was
no strain; and suddenly it broke on every one in the ship at once that
we were aground. Here was a nice mess. A violent scirocco blew from
the land; making one's skin feel as if it belonged to some one else
and didn't fit, making the horizon dim and yellow with fine sand,
oppressing every sense and raising the thermometer 20 degrees in an
hour, but making calm water round us, which enabled the ship to lie
for the time in safety. The wind might change at any moment, since the
scirocco was only accidental; and at the first wave from seaward bump
would go the poor ship, and there would [might] be an end of our
voyage. The captain, without waiting to sound, began to make an effort
to put the ship over what was supposed to be a sandbank; but by the
time soundings were made this was found to be impossible, and he had
only been jamming the poor _Elba_ faster on a rock. Now every effort
was made to get her astern, an anchor taken out, a rope brought to a
winch I had for the cable, and the engines backed; but all in vain. A
small Turkish Government steamer, which is to be our consort, came to
our assistance, but of course very slowly, and much time was occupied
before we could get a hawser to her. I could do no good after having
made a chart of the soundings round the ship, and went at last on to
the bridge to sketch the scene. But at that moment the strain from the
winch and a jerk from the Turkish steamer got off the boat, after we
had been some hours aground. The carpenter reported that she had made
only two inches of water in one compartment; the cable was still
uninjured astern, and our spirits rose; when--will you believe
it?--after going a short distance astern, the pilot ran us once more
fast aground on what seemed to me nearly the same spot. The very same
scene was gone through as on the first occasion, and dark came on
whilst the wind shifted, and we were still aground. Dinner was served
up, but poor Mr. Liddell could eat very little; and bump, bump, grind,
grind, went the ship fifteen or sixteen times as we sat at dinner. The
slight sea, however, did enable us to bump off. This morning we appear
not to have suffered in any way; but a sea is rolling in, which a few
hours ago would have settled the poor old _Elba_.

"_June --._

"The Alexandria cable has again failed; after paying out two-thirds of
the distance successfully, an unlucky touch in deep water snapped the
line. Luckily the accident occurred in Mr. Liddell's watch. Though
personally it may not really concern me, the accident weighs like a
personal misfortune. Still, I am glad I was present: a failure is
probably more instructive than a success; and this experience may
enable us to avoid misfortune in still greater undertakings.

"_June --._

"We left Syra the morning after our arrival on Saturday the 4th. This
we did (first) because we were in a hurry to do something, and
(second) because, coming from Alexandria, we had four days' quarantine
to perform. We were all mustered along the side while the doctor
counted us; the letters were popped into a little tin box and taken
away to be smoked; the guardians put on board to see that we held no
communication with the shore--without them we should still have had
four more days' quarantine; and with twelve Greek sailors besides, we
started merrily enough picking up the Canea cable.... To our utter
dismay, the yarn covering began to come up quite decayed, and the
cable, which when laid should have borne half a ton, was now in danger
of snapping with a tenth part of that strain. We went as slow as
possible in fear of a break at every instant. My watch was from eight
to twelve in the morning, and during that time we had barely secured
three miles of cable. Once it broke inside the ship, but I seized hold
of it in time--the weight being hardly anything--and the line for the
nonce was saved. Regular nooses were then planted inboard with men to
draw them taut, should the cable break inboard. A----, who should have
relieved me, was unwell, so I had to continue my look-out; and about
one o'clock the line again parted, but was again caught in the last
noose, with about four inches to spare. Five minutes afterwards it
again parted, and was yet once more caught. Mr. Liddell (whom I had
called) could stand this no longer; so we buoyed the line and ran into
a bay in Siphano, waiting for calm weather, though I was by no means
of opinion that the slight sea and wind had been the cause of our
failures.--All next day (Monday) we lay off Siphano, amusing ourselves
on shore with fowling-pieces and navy revolvers. I need not say we
killed nothing; and luckily we did not wound any of ourselves. A
guardiano accompanied us, his functions being limited to preventing
actual contact with the natives, for they might come as near, and talk
as much as they pleased. These isles of Greece are sad, interesting
places. They are not really barren all over, but they are quite
destitute of verdure; and tufts of thyme, wild mastic or mint, though
they sound well, are not nearly so pretty as grass. Many little
churches, glittering white, dot the islands; most of them, I believe,
abandoned during the whole year, with the exception of one day sacred
to their patron saint. The villages are mean, but the inhabitants do
not look wretched, and the men are good sailors. There is something in
this Greek race yet; they will become a powerful Levantine nation in
the course of time.--What a lovely moonlight evening that was! the
barren island cutting the clear sky with fantastic outline, marble
cliffs on either hand fairly gleaming over the calm sea. Next day, the
wind still continuing, I proposed a boating excursion, and decoyed
A----, L----, and S---- into accompanying me. We took the little gig,
and sailed away merrily enough round a point to a beautiful white bay,
flanked with two glistening little churches, fronted by beautiful
distant islands; when suddenly, to my horror, I discovered the _Elba_
steaming full speed out from the island. Of course we steered after
her; but the wind that instant ceased, and we were left in a dead
calm. There was nothing for it but to unship the mast, get out the
oars and pull. The ship was nearly certain to stop at the buoy; and I
wanted to learn how to take an oar, so here was a chance with a
vengeance! L---- steered, and we three pulled--a broiling pull it was
about half way across to Palikandro; still we did come in, pulling an
uncommon good stroke, and I had learned to hang on my oar. L---- had
pressed me to let him take my place; but though I was very tired at
the end of the first quarter of an hour, and then every successive
half hour, I would not give in. I nearly paid dear for my obstinacy,
however; for in the evening I had alternate fits of shivering and
burning."

III

The next extracts, and I am sorry to say the last, are from Fleeming's letters of 1860, when he was back at Bona and Spartivento, and for the first time at the head of an expedition. Unhappily these letters are not only the last, but the series is quite imperfect; and this is the more to be lamented as he had now begun to use a pen more skilfully, and in the following notes there is at times a touch of real distinction in the manner.

"_Cagliari, October 5, 1860._

"All Tuesday I spent examining what was on board the _Elba_, and
trying to start the repairs of the Spartivento land line, which has
been entirely neglected--and no wonder, for no one has been paid for
three months, no, not even the poor guards who have to keep
themselves, their horses and their families, on their pay. Wednesday
morning, I started for Spartivento, and got there in time to try a
good many experiments. Spartivento looks more wild and savage than
ever, but is not without a strange deadly beauty: the hills covered
with bushes of a metallic green with coppery patches of soil in
between; the valleys filled with dry salt mud and a little stagnant
water; where that very morning the deer had drunk, where herons,
curlews, and other fowl abound, and where, alas! malaria is breeding
with this rain. (No fear for those who do not sleep on shore.) A
little iron hut had been placed there since 1858; but the windows had
been carried off, the door broken down, the roof pierced all over. In
it we sat to make experiments; and how it recalled Birkenhead! There
was Thomson, there was my testing-board, the strings of gutta-percha;
Harry P---- even battering with the batteries; but where was my
darling Annie? Whilst I sat, feet in sand, with Harry alone inside the
hut--mats, coats, and wood to darken the window--the others visited
the murderous old friar, who is of the order of Scaloppi, and for whom
I brought a letter from his superior, ordering him to pay us
attention; but he was away from home, gone to Cagliari in a boat with
the produce of the farm belonging to his convent. Then they visited
the tower of Chia, but could not get in because the door is thirty
feet off the ground; so they came back and pitched a magnificent tent
which I brought from the _Bahiana_ a long time ago--and where they
will live (if I mistake not) in preference to the friar's or the owl-
and bat-haunted tower. MM. T---- and S---- will be left there: T---- an
intelligent, hard-working Frenchman with whom I am well pleased; he
can speak English and Italian well, and has been two years at Genoa.
S---- is a French German with a face like an ancient Gaul, who has
been sergeant-major in the French line, and who is, I see, a great,
big, muscular _faineant_. We left the tent pitched and some stores in
charge of a guide, and ran back to Cagliari.

"Certainly being at the head of things is pleasanter than being
subordinate. We all agree very well; and I have made the testing
office into a kind of private room, where I can come and write to you
undisturbed, surrounded by my dear, bright brass things which all of
them remind me of our nights at Birkenhead. Then I can work here too,
and try lots of experiments; you know how I like that! and now and
then I read--Shakespeare principally. Thank you so much for making me
bring him: I think I must get a pocket edition of _Hamlet_ and _Henry
the Fifth_, so as never to be without them.

"_Cagliari, October 7._

"[The town was full?] ... of red-shirted English Garibaldini. A very
fine-looking set of fellows they are too: the officers rather raffish,
but with medals, Crimean and Indian; the men a very sturdy set, with
many lads of good birth I should say. They still wait their consort
the _Emperor_, and will, I fear, be too late to do anything. I meant
to have called on them, but they are all gone into barracks some way
from the town, and I have been much too busy to go far.

"The view from the ramparts was very strange and beautiful. Cagliari
rises on a very steep rock, at the mouth of a wide plain circled by
large hills and three-quarters filled with lagoons; it looks,
therefore, like an old island citadel. Large heaps of salt mark the
border between the sea and the lagoons; thousands of flamingoes whiten
the centre of the huge shallow marsh; hawks hover and scream among the
trees under the high mouldering battlements.--A little lower down, the
band played. Men and ladies bowed and pranced, the costumes posed,
church bells tinkled, processions processed, the sun set behind thick
clouds capping the hills; I pondered on you and enjoyed it all.

"Decidedly I prefer being master to being man: boats at all hours,
stewards flying for marmalade, captain inquiring when ship is to sail,
clerks to copy my writing, the boat to steer when we go out--I have
run her nose on several times; decidedly, I begin to feel quite a
little king. Confound the cable, though! I shall never be able to
repair it.

"_Bona, October 14._

"We left Cagliari at 4.30 on the 9th, and soon got to Spartivento. I
repeated some of my experiments, but found Thomson, who was to have
been my grand stand-by, would not work on that day in the wretched
little hut. Even if the windows and door had been put in, the wind,
which was very high, made the lamp flicker about and blew it out; so I
sent on board and got old sails, and fairly wrapped the hut up in
them; and then we were as snug as could be, and I left the hut in
glorious condition, with a nice little stove in it. The tent which
should have been forthcoming from the cure's for the guards had gone
to Cagliari; but I found another, [a] green, Turkish tent, in the
_Elba_, and soon had him up. The square tent left on the last occasion
was standing all right and tight in spite of wind and rain. We landed
provisions, two beds, plates, knives, forks, candles, cooking
utensils, and were ready for a start at 6 P.M.; but the wind meanwhile
had come on to blow at such a rate that I thought better of it, and
we stopped. T---- and S---- slept ashore, however, to see how they
liked it; at least they tried to sleep, for S----, the ancient
sergeant-major, had a toothache, and T---- thought the tent was coming
down every minute. Next morning they could only complain of sand and a
leaky coffee-pot, so I leave them with a good conscience. The little
encampment looked quite picturesque: the green round tent, the square
white tent, and the hut all wrapped up in sails, on a sandhill,
looking on the sea and masking those confounded marshes at the back.
One would have thought the Cagliaritans were in a conspiracy to
frighten the two poor fellows, who (I believe) will be safe enough if
they do not go into the marshes after nightfall. S---- brought a
little dog to amuse them,--such a jolly, ugly little cur without a
tail, but full of fun; he will be better than quinine.

"The wind drove a barque, which had anchored near us for shelter, out
to sea. We started, however, at 2 P.M., and had a quick passage, but a
very rough one, getting to Bona by daylight [on the 11th]. Such a
place as this is for getting anything done! The health boat went away
from us at 7.30 with W---- on board; and we heard nothing of them till
9.30, when W---- came back with two fat Frenchmen, who are to look on
on the part of the Government. They are exactly alike: only one has
four bands and the other three round his cap, and so I know them. Then
I sent a boat round to Fort Genois [Fort Geneva of 1858], where the
cable is landed, with all sorts of things and directions, whilst I
went ashore to see about coals and a room at the fort. We hunted
people in the little square, in their shops and offices, but only
found them in cafes. One amiable gentleman wasn't up at 9.30, was out
at 10, and as soon as he came back the servant said he would go to bed
and not get up till 3: he came however to find us at a cafe, and said
that, on the contrary, two days in the week he did not do so! Then my
two fat friends must have their breakfast after their 'something' at a
cafe; and all the shops shut from 10 to 2; and the post does not open
till 12; and there was a road to Fort Genois, only a bridge had been
carried away, etc. At last I got off, and we rowed round to Fort
Genois, where my men had put up a capital gipsy tent with sails, and
there was my big board and Thomson's number 5 in great glory. I soon
came to the conclusion there was a break. Two of my faithful
Cagliaritans slept all night in the little tent, to guard it and my
precious instruments; and the sea, which was rather rough, silenced my
Frenchmen.

"Next day I went on with my experiments, whilst a boat grappled for
the cable a little way from shore, and buoyed it where the _Elba_
could get hold. I brought all back to the _Elba_, tried my machinery,
and was all ready for a start next morning. But the wretched coal had
not come yet; Government permission from Algiers to be got; lighters,
men, baskets, and I know not what forms to be got or got through--and
everybody asleep! Coals or no coals, I was determined to start next
morning; and start we did at four in the morning, picked up the buoy
with our deck-engine, popped the cable across a boat, tested the wires
to make sure the fault was not behind us, and started picking up at
11. Everything worked admirably, and about 2 P.M. in came the fault.
There is no doubt the cable was broken by coral-fishers; twice they
have had it up to their own knowledge.

"Many men have been ashore to-day and have come back tipsy, and the
whole ship is in a state of quarrel from top to bottom, and they will
gossip just within my hearing. And we have had moreover three French
gentlemen and a French lady to dinner, and I had to act host and try
to manage the mixtures to their taste. The good-natured little
Frenchwoman was most amusing; when I asked her if she would have some
apple tart--'_Mon Dieu_,' with heroic resignation, '_je veux bien_';
or a little _plombodding_--'_Mais ce que vous voudrez, Monsieur!_'

"_SS. Elba, somewhere not far from Bona, Oct. 19._

"Yesterday [after three previous days of useless grappling] was
destined to be very eventful. We began dredging at daybreak, and
hooked at once every time in rocks; but by capital luck, just as we
were deciding it was no use to continue in that place, we hooked the
cable: up it came, was tested, and lo! another complete break, a
quarter of a mile off. I was amazed at my own tranquillity under these
disappointments, but I was not really half so fussy as about getting a
cab. Well, there was nothing for it but grappling again, and, as you
may imagine, we were getting about six miles from shore. But the water
did not deepen rapidly; we seemed to be on the crest of a kind of
submarine mountain in prolongation of Cape de Gonde, and pretty havoc
we must have made with the crags. What rocks we did hook! No sooner
was the grapnel down than the ship was anchored; and then came such a
business: ship's engines going, deck-engine thundering, belt slipping,
fear of breaking ropes: actually breaking grapnels. It was always an
hour or more before we could get the grapnel down again. At last we
had to give up the place, though we knew we were close to the cable,
and go farther to sea in much deeper water; to my great fear, as I
knew the cable was much eaten away and would stand but little strain.
Well, we hooked the cable first dredge this time, and pulled it slowly
and gently to the top, with much trepidation. Was it the cable? was
there any weight on? it was evidently too small. Imagine my dismay
when the cable did come up, but hanging loosely, thus:

instead of taut, thus:

showing certain signs of a break close by. For a moment I felt
provoked, as I thought 'Here we are, in deep water, and the cable will
not stand lifting!' I tested at once, and by the very first wire found
it had broken towards shore and was good towards sea. This was of
course very pleasant: but from that time to this, though the wires
test very well, not a signal has come from Spartivento. I got the
cable into a boat, and a gutta-percha line from the ship to the boat,
and we signalled away at a great rate--but no signs of life. The tests
however make me pretty sure one wire at least is good; so I determined
to lay down cable from where we were to the shore, and go to
Spartivento to see what had happened there. I fear my men are ill. The
night was lovely, perfectly calm; so we lay close to the boat and
signals were continually sent, but with no result. This morning I had
the cable down to Fort Genois in style; and now we are picking up odds
and ends of cable between the different breaks, and getting our buoys
on board, etc. To-morrow I expect to leave for Spartivento."

IV

And now I am quite at an end of journal-keeping; diaries and diary letters being things of youth which Fleeming had at length outgrown. But one or two more fragments from his correspondence may be taken, and first this brief sketch of the laying of the Norderney cable; mainly interesting as showing under what defects of strength and in what extremities of pain this cheerful man must at times continue to go about his work.

"I slept on board 29th September, having arranged everything to start
by daybreak from where we lay in the roads: but at daybreak a heavy
mist hung over us so that nothing of land or water could be seen. At
midday it lifted suddenly, and away we went with perfect weather, but
could not find the buoys Forde left, that evening. I saw the captain
was not strong in navigation, and took matters next day much more into
my own hands, and before nine o'clock found the buoys (the weather had
been so fine we had anchored in the open sea near Texel). It took us
till the evening to reach the buoys, get the cable on board, test the
first half, speak to Lowestoft, make the splice, and start. H---- had
not finished his work at Norderney, so I was alone on board for
Reuter. Moreover the buoys to guide us in our course were not placed,
and the captain had very vague ideas about keeping his course; so I
had to do a good deal, and only lay down as I was for two hours in the
night. I managed to run the course perfectly. Everything went well,
and we found Norderney just where we wanted it next afternoon, and if
the shore-end had been laid, could have finished there and then,
October 1st. But when we got to Norderney, we found the _Caroline_
with shore-end lying apparently aground, and could not understand her
signals; so we had to anchor suddenly, and I went off in a small boat
with the captain to the _Caroline_. It was cold by this time, and my
arm was rather stiff, and I was tired; I hauled myself up on board the
_Caroline_ by a rope, and found H---- and two men on board. All the
rest were trying to get the shore-end on shore, but had failed, and
apparently had stuck on shore, and the waves were getting up. We had
anchored in the right place, and next morning we hoped the shore-end
would be laid, so we had only to go back. It was of course still
colder, and quite night. I went to bed and hoped to sleep, but, alas,
the rheumatism got into the joints and caused me terrible pain, so
that I could not sleep. I bore it as long as I could in order to
disturb no one, for all were tired; but at last I could bear it no
longer, and I managed to wake the steward, and got a mustard poultice,
which took the pain from the shoulder; but then the elbow got very
bad, and I had to call the second steward and get a second poultice,
and then it was daylight, and I felt very ill and feverish. The sea
was now rather rough--too rough rather for small boats, but luckily a
sort of thing called a scoot came out, and we got on board her with
some trouble, and got on shore after a good tossing about, which made
us all sea-sick. The cable sent from the _Caroline_ was just 60 yards
too short, and did not reach the shore, so although the _Caroline_ did
make the splice late that night, we could neither test nor speak.
Reuter was at Norderney, and I had to do the best I could, which was
not much, and went to bed early; I thought I should never sleep again,
but in sheer desperation got up in the middle of the night and gulped
a lot of raw whisky, and slept at last. But not long. A Mr. F----
washed my face and hands and dressed me; and we hauled the cable out
of the sea, and got it joined to the telegraph station, and on October
3rd telegraphed to Lowestoft first, and then to London. Miss Clara
Volkman, a niece of Mr. Reuter's, sent the first message to Mrs.
Reuter, who was waiting (Varley used Miss Clara's hand as a kind of
key), and I sent one of the first messages to Odden. I thought a
message addressed to him would not frighten you, and that he would
enjoy a message through papa's cable. I hope he did. They were all
very merry, but I had been so lowered by pain that I could not enjoy
myself in spite of the success."

V

Of the 1869 cruise in the _Great Eastern_ I give what I am able; only sorry it is no more, for the sake of the ship itself, already almost a legend even to the generation that saw it launched.

"_June 17, 1869._--Here are the names of our staff, in whom I expect
you to be interested, as future _Great Eastern_ stories may be full of
them; Theophilus Smith, a man of Latimer Clark's; Leslie C. Hill, my
prizeman at University College; Lord Sackville Cecil; King, one of the
Thomsonian Kings; Laws, goes for Willoughby Smith, who will also be on
board; Varley, Clark, and Sir James Anderson, make up the sum of all
you know anything of. A Captain Halpin commands the big ship. There
are four smaller vessels. The _Wm. Cory_, which laid the Norderney
cable, has already gone to St. Pierre to lay the shore-ends. The
_Hawk_ and _Chiltern_ have gone to Brest to lay shore-ends. The _Hawk_
and _Scanderia_ go with us across the Atlantic, and we shall at St.
Pierre be transhipped into one or the other.

"_June 18, somewhere in London._--The shore-end is laid, as you may
have seen, and we are all under pressing orders to march, so we start
from London to-night at 5.10.

"_June 20, off Ushant._--I am getting quite fond of the big ship.
Yesterday morning in the quiet sunlight she turned so slowly and
lazily in the great harbour at Portland, and by and by slipped out
past the long pier with so little stir, that I could hardly believe we
were really off. No men drunk, no women crying, no singing or
swearing, no confusion or bustle on deck--nobody apparently aware that
they had anything to do. The look of the thing was that the ship had
been spoken to civilly, and had kindly undertaken to do everything
that was necessary without any further interference. I have a nice
cabin, with plenty of room for my legs in my berth, and have slept two
nights like a top. Then we have the ladies' cabin set apart as an
engineer's office, and I think this decidedly the nicest place in the
ship: 35 ft. x 20 ft. broad--four tables, three great mirrors, plenty
of air, and no heat from the funnels, which spoil the great
dining-room. I saw a whole library of books on the walls when here
last, and this made me less anxious to provide light literature; but
alas, to-day I find that they are every one Bibles or Prayer-books.
Now one cannot read many hundred Bibles.... As for the motion of the
ship, it is not very much, but 'twill suffice. Thomson shook hands and
wished me well. I _do_ like Thomson.... Tell Austin that the _Great
Eastern_ has six masts and four funnels. When I get back I will make a
little model of her for all the chicks, and pay out cotton reels....
Here we are at 4.20 at Brest. We leave probably to-morrow morning.

"_July 12, Great Eastern._--Here as I write we run our last course for
the buoy at the St. Pierre shore-end. It blows and lightens, and our
good ship rolls, and buoys are hard to find; but we must soon now
finish our work, and then this letter will start for home....
Yesterday we were mournfully groping our way through the wet grey fog,
not at all sure where we were, with one consort lost and the other
faintly answering the roar of our great whistle through the mist. As
to the ship which was to meet us, and pioneer us up the deep channel,
we did not know if we should come within twenty miles of her; when
suddenly up went the fog, out came the sun, and there, straight
ahead, was the _Wm. Cory_, our pioneer, and a little dancing boat, the
_Gulnare_, sending signals of welcome with many-coloured flags. Since
then we have been steaming in a grand procession; but now at 2 A.M.
the fog has fallen, and the great roaring whistle calls up the distant
answering notes all around us. Shall we or shall we not find the buoy?

"_July 13._--All yesterday we lay in the damp dripping fog, with
whistles all round and guns firing so that we might not bump up
against one another. This little delay has let us get our reports into
tolerable order. We are now, at seven o'clock, getting the cable end
again, with the main cable buoy close to us."

_A telegram of July 20._--"I have received your four welcome letters.
The Americans are charming people."

VI

And here, to make an end, are a few random bits about the cruise to Pernambuco:--

"_Plymouth, June 21, 1873._--I have been down to the seashore and
smelt the salt sea, and like it; and I have seen the _Hooper_ pointing
her great bow seaward, while light smoke rises from her funnels,
telling that the fires are being lighted; and sorry as I am to be
without you, something inside me answers to the call to be off and
doing.

"_Lalla Rookh, Plymouth, June 22._--We have been a little cruise in
the yacht over to the Eddystone lighthouse, and my sea-legs seem very
well on. Strange how alike all these starts are--first on shore,
steaming hot days with a smell of bone-dust and tar and salt water;
then the little puffing, panting steam-launch, that bustles out across
a port with green woody sides, little yachts sliding about, men-of-war
training-ships, and then a great big black hulk of a thing with a mass
of smaller vessels sticking to it like parasites; and that is one's
home being coaled. Then comes the champagne lunch, where every one
says all that is polite to every one else, and then the uncertainty
when to start. So far as we know _now_, we are to start to-morrow
morning at daybreak; letters that come later are to be sent to
Pernambuco by first mail.... My father has sent me the heartiest sort
of Jack Tar's cheer.

"_SS. Hooper, off Funchal, June 29._--Here we are, off Madeira at
seven o'clock in the morning. Thomson has been sounding with his
special toy ever since half-past three (1087 fathoms of water). I have
been watching the day break, and long jagged islands start into being
out of the dull night. We are still some miles from land; but the sea
is calmer than Loch Eil often was, and the big _Hooper_ rests very
contentedly after a pleasant voyage and favourable breezes. I have not
been able to do any real work except the testing [of the cable], for,
though not sea-sick, I get a little giddy when I try to think on
board.... The ducks have just had their daily souse and are quacking
and gabbling in a mighty way outside the door of the captain's deck
cabin, where I write. The cocks are crowing, and new-laid eggs are
said to be found in the coops. Four mild oxen have been untethered and
allowed to walk along the broad iron decks--a whole drove of sheep
seem quite content while licking big lumps of bay salt. Two
exceedingly impertinent goats lead the cook a perfect life of misery.
They steal round the galley and _will_ nibble the carrots or turnips
if his back is turned for one minute; and then he throws something at
them and misses them; and they scuttle off laughing impudently, and
flick one ear at him from a safe distance. This is the most impudent
gesture I ever saw. Winking is nothing to it. The ear normally hangs
down behind; the goat turns sideways to her enemy--by a little knowing
cock of the head flicks one ear over one eye, and squints from behind
it, for half a minute--tosses her head back, skips a pace or two
further off, and repeats the manoeuvre. The cook is very fat, and
cannot run after that goat much.

"_Pernambuco, Aug. 1._--We landed here yesterday, all well and cable
sound, after a good passage.... I am on familiar terms with
cocoa-nuts, mangoes, and bread-fruit trees, but I think I like the
negresses best of anything I have seen. In turbans and loose sea-green
robes, with beautiful black-brown complexions and a stately carriage,
they really are a satisfaction to my eye. The weather has been windy
and rainy; the _Hooper_ has to lie about a mile from the town, in an
open roadstead, with the whole swell of the Atlantic driving straight
on shore. The little steam-launch gives all who go in her a good
ducking, as she bobs about on the big rollers; and my old gymnastic
practice stands me in good stead on boarding and leaving her. We
clamber down a rope-ladder hanging from the high stern, and then,
taking a rope in one hand, swing into the launch at the moment when
she can contrive to steam up under us--bobbing about like an apple
thrown into a tub all the while. The President of the province and his
suite tried to come off to a State luncheon on board on Sunday; but
the launch, being rather heavily laden, behaved worse than usual, and
some green seas stove in the President's hat and made him wetter than
he had probably ever been in his life; so after one or two rollers, he
turned back; and indeed he was wise to do so, for I don't see how he
could have got on board.... Being fully convinced that the world will
not continue to go round unless I pay it personal attention, I must
run away to my work."