第46章 THE VOYAGE(34)

Our women,who began to creep out of their holes in the morning,retired again within the cabin to their beds,and were no more heard of this day,in which my whole comfort was to find by the captain's relation that the swelling was sometimes much worse;he did,indeed,take this occasion to be more communicative than ever,and informed me of such misadventures that had befallen him within forty-six years at sea as might frighten a very bold spirit from undertaking even the shortest voyage.Were these,indeed,but universally known,our matrons of quality would possibly be deterred from venturing their tender offspring at sea;by which means our navy would lose the honor of many a young commodore,who at twenty-two is better versed in maritime affairs than real seamen are made by experience at sixty.And this may,perhaps,appear the more extraordinary,as the education of both seems to be pretty much the same;neither of them having had their courage tried by Virgil's deion of a storm,in which,inspired as he was,I doubt whether our captain doth not exceed him.In the evening the wind,which continued in the N.W.again freshened,and that so briskly that Cape Finisterre appeared by this day's observation to bear a few miles to the southward.We now indeed sailed,or rather flew,near ten knots an hour;and the captain,in the redundancy of his good-humor,declared he would go to church at Lisbon on Sunday next,for that he was sure of a wind;and,indeed,we all firmly believed him.But the event again contradicted him;for we were again visited by a calm in the evening.

But here,though our voyage was retarded,we were entertained with a scene,which as no one can behold without going to sea,so no one can form an idea of anything equal to it on shore.We were seated on the deck,women and all,in the serenest evening that can be imagined.Not a single cloud presented itself to our view,and the sun himself was the only object which engrossed our whole attention.He did indeed set with a majesty which is incapable of deion,with which,while the horizon was yet blazing with glory,our eyes were called off to the opposite part to survey the moon,which was then at full,and which in rising presented us with the second object that this world hath offered to our vision.Compared to these the pageantry of theaters,or splendor of courts,are sights almost below the regard of children.We did not return from the deck till late in the evening;the weather being inexpressibly pleasant,and so warm that even my old distemper perceived the alteration of the climate.There was indeed a swell,but nothing comparable to what we had felt before,and it affected us on the deck much less than in the cabin.

Friday.--The calm continued till sun-rising,when the wind likewise arose,but unluckily for us it came from a wrong quarter;it was S.S.E.which is that very wind which Juno would have solicited of Aeolus,had Gneas been in our latitude bound for Lisbon.

The captain now put on his most melancholy aspect,and resumed his former opinion that he was bewitched.He declared with great solemnity that this was worse and worse,for that a wind directly in his teeth was worse than no wind at all.Had we pursued the course which the wind persuaded us to take we had gone directly for Newfoundland,if we had not fallen in with Ireland in our way.Two ways remained to avoid this;one was to put into a port of Galicia;the other,to beat to the westward with as little sail as possible:and this was our captain's election.

As for us,poor passengers,any port would have been welcome to us;especially,as not only our fresh provisions,except a great number of old ducks and fowls,but even our bread was come to an end,and nothing but sea-biscuit remained,which I could not chew.So that now for the first time in my life I saw what it was to want a bit of bread.

The wind however was not so unkind as we had apprehended;but,having declined with the sun,it changed at the approach of the moon,and became again favorable to us,though so gentle that the next day's observation carried us very little to the southward of Cape Finisterre.This evening at six the wind,which had been very quiet all day,rose very high,and continuing in our favor drove us seven knots an hour.

This day we saw a sail,the only one,as I heard of,we had seen in our whole passage through the bay.I mention this on account of what appeared to me somewhat extraordinary.Though she was at such a distance that I could only perceive she was a ship,the sailors discovered that she was a snow,bound to a port in Galicia.

Sunday.--After prayers,which our good captain read on the deck with an audible voice,and with but one mistake,of a lion for Elias,in the second lesson for this day,we found ourselves far advanced in 42degrees,and the captain declared we should sup off Porte.We had not much wind this day;but,as this was directly in our favor,we made it up with sail,of which we crowded all we had.We went only at the rate of four miles an hour,but with so uneasy a motion,continuing rolling from side to side,that I suffered more than I had done in our whole voyage;my bowels being almost twisted out of my belly.However,the day was very serene and bright,and the captain,who was in high spirits,affirmed he had never passed a pleasanter at sea.

The wind continued so brisk that we ran upward of six knots an hour the whole night.

Monday.--In the morning our captain concluded that he was got into lat.40degrees,and was very little short of the Burlings,as they are called in the charts.We came up with them at five in the afternoon,being the first land we had distinctly seen since we left Devonshire.They consist of abundance of little rocky islands,a little distant from the shore,three of them only showing themselves above the water.