' This was
annoying; but they worked extra hard all day, and by 4 p.m. steam was
raised. At six a nice little breeze sprang up, which freshened during
the evening, and at midnight orders were given to stop steaming.
We had another bad night of it--a head wind, the sea washing over the
decks, everything shut up, and the thermometer standing at 90 deg..
_Sunday, January 14th_.--I was on deck at 4 a.m. The Southern Cross,
the Great Bear, and the North Star, were shining with a brilliancy
that eclipsed all the other stars.
During the day the wind freshened to a squally gale. Sometimes we were
going ten, sometimes thirteen, and sometimes fifteen knots through the
water, knocking about a good deal all the while. Service was an
impossibility; cooking and eating, indeed, were matters of difficulty.
It rained heavily, and the seas came over the deck continually.
Many of the sailors and servants were ill. I was hopelessly so.
Nothing annoys me more than to find that, after having sailed tens and
tens of thousands of miles, I cannot cure myself of sea-sickness. I
can stand a good deal more rolling than I once could; but still, many
are the days when nothing but the firmest determination not to think
about it, but to find something to do, and to do it with all my might,
keeps me on my feet at all.
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