Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/39

Rh Hope, are cool, if not cold, in summer as well as in winter.

The wind in these latitudes generally blows freshly from the west; hence those who would go to the east give the Cape a wide berth, and favoured by these west winds sail rapidly on their course. The rough seas we here meet are, to those sensitive to sea-sickness, a drawback from the satisfaction of rapid progress. But the hardy seaman thinks not of this. As he looks aloft at the swelling canvas filled by a favouring breeze, with every backstay, brace, and sheet strained to its utmost tension, and glances over the side at the foaming waters through which his vessel ploughs her way, a smile steals over the most grim countenance, while its owner speculates as to how many knots she makes an hour, and how many degrees of longitude she will have passed when the daily reckoning is cast at noon.

Our captain seemed ill at ease. At times he was cross-grained and surly; but these “spanking breezes” that furled our royals, and sent us foaming through the waters with bending masts and snapping cordage, often charmed the evil spirit away; they were as David's harp to the uneasy soul of Saul. Rh