Melbourne is about ten hours before London, and therefore
night, and day are reversed.
Rapidly it became cooler, for the winds were rather contrary, and drove
us much farther south than was needed. We were glad to avail
ourselves of our opossum rugs to keep ourselves warm. One of these rugs
is quite sufficient covering of a night in the coldest weather, and
imparts as much heat as a dozen blankets. They are made from the skins
of the opossums, sewn together by the natives with the sinews of the
same animal. Each skin is about twelve inches by eight, or smaller; and
as the rugs are generally very large, they contain sometimes as many as
eighty skins. They may be tastefully arranged, as there is a great
difference in the colours; some being like a rich sable, others nearly
black, and others again of a grey and light brown. The fur is long and
silky. At one time a rug of this description was cheap enough - perhaps
as much as two sovereigns but the great demand for them by diggers,
&c., has made them much more scarce, and it now requires a ten
pound-note to get a good one. The best come from Van Diemen's Land. In
summer they are disagreeable, as they harbour insects.
However, whilst rounding Cape Horn, in the coldest weather I ever
experienced, we were only too happy to throw them over us
during the nights.
One morning we were awakened by a great confusion on deck. Our ship was
ploughing through a quantity of broken ice. That same afternoon, we
sighted an immense iceberg about ten miles from us. Its size may be
imagined from the fact, that, although we were sailing at a rate of ten
knots an hour, we kept it in sight till dark. This was on the 3rd of
December.
We soon rounded the Horn, and had some very rough weather. One of the
sailors fell off the jib-boom; and the cry of "man overboard" made our
hearts beat with horror. Every sail was on; we were running right
before the wind, and the waves were mountains high, a boat must have
been swamped; and long before we could "bout ship", he had sunk to
rise no more.
After rounding Cape Horn, we made rapid progress; by Christmas Day, we
were in the Tropics. It was not kept with much joviality, for water and
food were running scarce. Provisions were so dear in Melbourne,
that they had laid in a short allowance of everything, and our captain
had not anticipated half so many passengers.
