Mrs. H- (The Captain's Wife), A Young Cape Lady, And I Are
The Only 'female Ladies' Of The Party.
The other day we saw a
shoal of porpoises, amounting to many hundreds, if not some
thousands, who came frisking round the ship.
When we first saw
them they looked like a line of breakers; they made such a splash,
and they jumped right out of the water three feet in height, and
ten or twelve in distance, glittering green and bronze in the sun.
Such a pretty, merry set of fellows!
We shall touch at St. Helena, where I shall leave this letter to go
by the mail steamer, that you may know a few weeks before I arrive
how comfortably my voyage has begun.
We see no Cape pigeons; they only visit outward ships - is not that
strange? - but, en revanche, many more albatrosses than in coming;
and we also enjoy the advantage of seeing all the homeward-bound
ships, as they all PASS us - a humiliating fact. The captain
laughed heartily because I said, 'Oh, all right; I shall have the
more sea for my money', - when the prospect of a slow voyage was
discussed. It is very provoking to be so much longer separated
from you all than I had hoped, but I really believe that the bad
air and discomfort of the other ships would have done me serious
injury; while here I have every chance of benefiting to the utmost,
and having mild weather the whole way, besides the utmost amount of
comfort possible on board ship.
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