Page:Letters from India Vol 1.djvu/54

 to get out of our way: they evidently thought that man had no right to meddle with the sea or its inhabitants; and I think so too. He cannot manage the sea; it heaves and tosses him about just as it pleases.

I have two great sources of comfort: in and my great worsted man and horse: they are both so great, I hardly know which is the greater. When it is calm, I turn to my man and horse. Such a horsecloth as I have just executed! And in the worst of times always can make us all laugh: he lives in a state of farcical despair, and goes about insulting all the sailors with his horror of the ship; and I heard him, just now, gravely consulting the doctor, who is rather pompous and solemn, about his health:—‘But, sir, I do not exactly see what is the matter with you!’—‘Matter enough! I’ve got the “Jupiters”—I’m a creak, Doctor, nothing but a creak: listen to my neck when I turn it!’ And there are times when one feels actually creaking oneself.

Dec. 14.—And now there’s Africa in sight. I took my first view of it at five this morning. Then, it looked very much like the Cape of