; ¡i
and Avith three hearty cheers expressed their Avishes
for a prosperous A'oyage.
It Avill not, perhaps, be considered as any great
feat for a yacht to beat a Spanish merchant-ship ;
I may, hoAA'ever, mention, that although the Spaniards
from Christiansund had no less than five
houis start of us,^AAdth a fine fresh breeze, standing
on the same course Avith us, Ave soon passed them,
and had the satisfaction of rimning them all hull
down before sunset.
This part of the coast of Noiavay, as Ave receded
from it, presented a most imposing appearance. As
far as the eye could reach to the southAvard, a continued
chain of magnificent mountains of every
variety of form filled the eastern horizon, their
summits, doAvn to the line of the sea, completely
enveloped in one uniform mass of snoAv, Avhich terminated
to the northAvard Avith the snoAvy peak of
Tusteren, this island apparently standing prominently
foi’Avard, as the coast-line begins here to
trend easterly in advancing to the northAvard.
The monotony of a sea v'oyage Avas broken towards
the evening by falling in Avith a group of four or
five large black Avhales, at no great distance from
us, one of Avhich thought fit to salute us Avith
a je t d eau, throAvn up to a prodigious height, before
he plunged doAvn head-foremost, exhibiting
his moon-shaped tail in the air. The Avhale
appears to be a fine-Aveather fish, as it is said to
he rarely seen playing its gambols except in a calm.
or in fine clear weather. On this evening and
the folloAving morning nothing could be more
beautiful—not a cloud Avas to be seen iu the sky,
and Ave had just a sufficient breeze to Avaft the
vessel onwards some seven or eight knots an hour.
I t was precisely the kind of Aveather in Avhich a
landsman can most enjoy himself at sea, if it be
possible for him to receive any enjoyment, Avhich,
for my own part, I am inclined to doubt, believing
that none but a seaman can find any real pleasure
on a long voyage. I t is then—
“ W h en no object meets the admiring eye,
Save the blue water, and the bluer sky,
Moved by the joyous freshness o f the scene,
The heart turns hack to pleasures which have been ;
To happier hours and calmer thoughts descends,
To lost companions, and to absent friends.”
The clear day, and the moderate breeze of fair
Avind, were of short continuance, as toAvards the
evening the weather thickened, the Avind began to
head us, Ave were close hauled, and the breeze
freshened at uight. We had been led to expect fogs
as we approached the coast of Iceland, but Ave Avere
not prepared to find them in the middle of summer
as bador Avorse than Ave often Avitness them in England
in the depth of winter. For the two succeeding
days, however, Ave Avere not only becalmed,
with a heavy sea tossing the vessel about, but on
the first of these days the fog Avas so very dense,
that Ave could see nothing beyond the head of the
E 5