Yr Ynys Unyg | Page 3

black hands, and only
his extreme good nature and willing activity caused them to be in any
degree reconciled to having a black man for a cook. He was a very
good one however, and willingly would we, many years after, have
hailed his black face and white teeth with the joy of a dear friend.
Smart, the gamekeeper, was a fine, tall, handsome man, of Gloucester
make and tongue; he was quite a character in his way, and the contrast
between his fear of the sea, his illness at the least gale, his utter
ignorance of anything nautical was very great, when we thought of his
courage, strength, and skill on shore, in his own vocation. Under his
care he had two large dogs, half blood hounds half St. Bernard, their
names were Bernard and Cwmro. But I must describe our vessel:--La
Luna had been built expressly for her present purpose, in the river
Clyde; she was of nearly 200 tons burden, three-masted, beautiful and
elegant in her appearance, and nothing could exceed the convenience
and comfort, combined with strength, with which she was fitted up; we
had a deck house, surrounded with windows, so that we were shaded
from sun and sheltered from breeze, and could see in every direction
each pursuing his or her favourite occupation, and yet losing none of
the beauties and wonders of the ocean; near the deck house were two
berths, one for Captain MacNab, the other for Mr. Austin; down stairs
we had a saloon, the length of which was the width of the vessel, and
about twelve feet across; on the upper end a smaller saloon, or drawing
room, the sofas of which made up four berths; the three girls used this
room, and it opened into the stern cabin, where Jenny and the three
younger girls slept, and through which the rudder came; at the other
end was a double cabin, which served for my cousin and me, opening
into the bath room, beyond that was the boys' cabin, and on the left
hand side of the stern cabin was Mrs. Tollair's cabin; in the other part
of the vessel were four other cabins, a steward's or servant's room,
besides the seamen's berths, here also were two very excellent deck
cabins for our two gentlemen whenever they joined us. We had fitted
up the whole of the saloon with bookcases, of which one was devoted
to the children's school books, drawing materials, and everything of

that sort they might require. Our travels were at present not only
indefinite as to time, but equally so as to place. We had a piano and a
small hand organ, which could be carried on deck.
It would be impossible to convey any idea of the bustle, the noise, the
confusion, the pleasure, the novelty that possessed everybody and
everything the few days before we sailed. The leave-takings were the
most painful, for having the care of so many who left the nearest and
dearest ties behind them, on a voyage, the singularity of which invested
it with a certain degree of mysterious danger, the nature of which no
one could define, and which I now for the first time felt. All this gave a
degree of sadness to the feelings of the whole party as we watched the
English coast fading from our sight. I sat on the deck until a late hour
recalling the happy and cheerful "God speed you" that my mother gave
us, the more grave and solemn farewell of my father, whose foreboding
mind looked farther than ours did. And then I recalled the parents of
those with me; the hearty and oft-expressed wish of Gatty's father, high
in honours and public esteem, to accompany us, the tearful farewell of
her mother, dear Winny's merry and light-hearted mother, while her
father bid her remember, during her long absence, the lessons of
goodness and high principle he was always so anxious to inculcate in
her. My brother and sister-in-law had been prevented coming to wish
Zoë farewell, on account of the illness of one of her brothers. I could
not but think this as well, for her mother's delicate nerves could never
have borne the parting from a child so beloved, and Zoë's leave to come
would have been rescinded at the last moment. Poor child! I know not
whether to wish it better to have been so or not. Dear uncle P. came to
wish his daughter, my cousin, good bye, and to promise once more a
father's and mother's care over her two little children during her
absence. I could not help being amused at his sometimes expressing a
wish to go with us, and the next minute scolding us for doing anything
so mad. Well, we were off!