Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/151



glories of  the  setting  sun ;  the  stars  were  sought  be- low, the via  lactea  streamed  over  the  ship's  sides,  and the study  of  Neptune's  palace  under  the  sea  appeared far more  fascinating  than  the  study  of  Orion  and  the Pleiades.

Sea-sickness is  a  great  leveller. It prostrates  pride, purges man  of  his  conceit,  makes  him  humble  as  a little  child ;  it  is  specially  conducive  to  repentance  and after repentance  to  resignation. I know  of  nothing, after the  first  fear  of  death  has  passed  away,  that makes one  so  ready  to  die. A great  wave  places  its back under  the  ship  and  lifts  you  up,  up,  into  the  very clouds ; then  it  stands  from  under  and  you  go  down, down, with  a  tickling  sensation  within,  until  you  stop 3'our breath  waiting  for  the  vessel  to  strike  upon  the bottom of  the  sea. Then comes  a  mingled  pitching and rolling,  when  the  innermost  loses  cohesion,  oscil- lates, rotates and  upheaves,  when  the  foundations  of the  great  deep  are  broken  up  within  you,  when  the strong man  bows  himself  as  it  were  a  woman  grinding at a  mill,  and  the  mourners  go  about  the  cabin  like apocalyptic angels,  wailing  as  they  pour  their  vials out; and  by  this  unrest  and  the  revels  of  devils  with- in, the imaa;e  of  God  is  deo-raded  into  that  of  a  self- acting hydraulic  pump. The mind  becomes  concerned, the brow  overcast;  it  is  like  clapping  on  the  head  a hope-extinguisher,  and  squeezing  the  body  at  once  of every  rest  and  comfort  flesh  aspires  to  ;  as  if  the  inner lining of  the  man  were  rolled  up  and  wrung  out  down to the  very  dregs  of  gall  and  bitterness. Then the body assumes  a  doubling  posture,  the  spinal  column becomes flaccid  and  limpy,  the  victim  is  filled  with  a desire  to  sink  to  the  floor  or  lie  prostrate  ;  manhood oozes out  at  the  finorers'  ends,  and  Caesar  becomes  like a sick  girl.

And all  the  while  those  Who  escape  these  miseries regard this  agony  as  ludicrous  in  the  extreme. It is  a  capital  joke  to  see  the  strong  man  brought  low, to hear  him  swear  and  storm  at  every  thing