A Ladys Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53 | Page 5

Isle of Wight, our pilot also took his departure.
Sea-sickness now became the fashion, but, as I cannot speak from
experience of its sensations, I shall altogether decline the subject. On
Friday, the 30th, we sighted Stark Point; and as the last speck of
English land faded away in the distance, an intense feeling of misery
crept over me, as I reflected that perchance I had left those most dear to
return to them no more. But I forget; a description of private feelings is,
to uninterested readers, only so much twaddle, besides being more
egotistical than even an account of personal adventures could extenuate;
so, with the exception of a few extracts from my "log," I shall jump at
once from the English Channel to the more exciting shores of Victoria.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, lat. 45 degrees 57 minutes N., long. 11
degrees 45 minutes W.--Whilst off the Bay of Biscay, for the first time
I had the pleasure of seeing the phosphoric light in the water, and the
effect was indeed too beautiful to describe. I gazed again and again,
and, as the darkness above became more dense, the silence of evening
more profound, and the moving lights beneath more brilliant, I could
have believed them the eyes of the Undines, who had quitted their cool
grottos beneath the sea to gaze on the daring ones who were sailing
above them. At times one of these stars of the ocean would seem to
linger around our vessel, as though loth to leave the admiring eyes that
watched its glittering progress.* * * * *
SUNDAY, 9, lat. 37 degrees 53 minutes N., long. 15 degrees 32
minutes W.-- Great excitement throughout the ship. Early in the
morning a homeward-bound sail hove in sight, and as the sea was very
calm, our captain kindly promised to lower a boat and send letters by
her. What a scene then commenced; nothing but scribes and
writing-desks met the view, and nought was heard but the scratching of
pens, and energetic demands for foreign letter-paper, vestas, or
sealing-wax; then came a rush on deck, to witness the important packet
delivered to the care of the first mate, and watch the progress of the
little bark that was to bear among so many homes the glad tidings of
our safety. On she came--her stunsails set--her white sails glittering in

the sun--skimming like a sea-bird over the waters. She proved to be the
Maltese schooner 'Felix,' bound for Bremen. Her captain treated the
visitors from our ship with the greatest politeness, promised to consign
our letters to the first pilot he should encounter off the English coast,
and sent his very last oranges as a present to the ladies, for which we
sincerely thanked him; the increasing heat of the weather made them
acceptable indeed.
WEDNESDAY, 12, lat. 33 degrees 19 minutes N., long. 17 degrees 30
minutes W.--At about noon we sighted Madeira. At first it appeared
little more than a dark cloud above the horizon; gradually the sides of
the rocks became clearly discernible, then the wind bore us onward,
and soon all traces of the sunny isle were gone.
FRIDAY, 28, lat. 4 degrees 2 minutes N., long. 21 degrees 30 minutes
W.-- Another opportunity of sending letters, but as this was the second
time of so doing, the excitement was proportionately diminished. This
vessel was bound for the port of Liverpool, from the coast of Africa;
her cargo (so said those of our fellow-travellers who boarded her),
consisted of ebony and gold-dust, her only passengers being monkeys
and parrots.
SUNDAY, JUNE 6, long. 24 degrees 38 minutes W.--Crossed the Line,
to the great satisfaction of all on board, as we had been becalmed more
than a week, and were weary of gazing upon the unruffled waters
around us, or watching the sails as they idly flapped to and fro. Chess,
backgammon, books and cards, had ceased to beguile the hours away,
and the only amusement left was lowering a boat and rowing about
within a short distance of the ship, but this (even by those not pulling at
the oars) was considered too fatiguing work, for a tropical sun was
above us, and the heat was most intense. Our only resource was to give
ourselves up to a sort of DOLCE FAR NIENTE existence, and lounge
upon the deck, sipping lemonade or lime-juice, beneath a large awning
which extended from the fore to the mizen masts.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, lat. 39 degrees 28 minutes S., long. 136
degrees 31 minutes E.--Early this morning one of the sailors died, and
before noon the last services of the Church of England were read over
his body; this was the first and only death that occurred during our long
passage, and the solemnity of