第9章 CHAPTER II(2)

We are now (January 21)in great hopes of sighting land in three or four days,and are really beginning to feel near the end of our voyage:not that I can realise this to myself;it seems as though I had always been on board the ship,and was always going to be,and as if all my past life had not been mine,but had belonged to somebody else,or as though someone had taken mine and left me his by mistake.I expect,however,that when the land actually comes in sight we shall have little difficulty in realising the fact that the voyage has come to a close.

The weather has been much warmer since we have been off the coast of Australia,even though Australia is some 100north of our present position.I have not,however,yet seen the thermometer higher than since we passed the Cape.Now we are due south of the south point of Van Diemen's Land,and consequently nearer land than we have been for some time.We are making for the Snares,two high islets about sixty miles south of Stewart's Island,the southernmost of the New Zealand group.We sail immediately to the north of them,and then turn up suddenly.The route we have to take passes between the Snares and the Traps--two rather ominous-sounding names,but I believe more terrible in name than in any other particular.

January 22.--Yesterday at midday I was sitting writing in my cabin,when I heard the joyful cry of "Land!"and,rushing on deck,saw the swelling and beautiful outline of the high land in Stewart's Island.We had passed close by the Snares in the morning,but the weather was too thick for us to see them,though the birds flocked therefrom in myriads.We then passed between the Traps,which the captain saw distinctly,one on each side of him,from the main topgallant yard.Land continued in sight till sunset,but since then it has disappeared.To-day (Sunday)we are speeding up the coast;the anchors are ready,and to-morrow by early daylight we trust to drop them in the harbour of Lyttelton.We have reason,from certain newspapers,to believe that the mails leave on the 23rd of the month,in which case I shall have no time or means to add a single syllable.

January 26.--Alas for the vanity of human speculation!After writing the last paragraph the wind fell light,then sprung up foul,and so we were slowly driven to the E.N.E.On Monday night it blew hard,and we had close-reefed topsails.Tuesday morning at five it was lovely,and the reefs were all shaken out;a light air sprang up,and the ship,at 10o'clock,had come up to her course,when suddenly,without the smallest warning,a gale came down upon us from the S.W.like a wall.

The men were luckily very smart in taking in canvas,but at one time the captain thought he should have had to cut away the mizzenmast.We were reduced literally to bare poles,and lay-to under a piece of tarpaulin,six times doubled,and about two yards square,fastened up in the mizzen rigging.All day and night we lay thus,drifting to leeward at three knots an hour.In the twenty-four hours we had drifted sixty miles.