generous and noble."

"So it ought to be, or else why are we so much more nobly endowed? This
is not your first voyage, I presume?" continued the stranger.

"Indeed, it is," said Alexander; "I never was out of England, or on
board of a vessel, before yesterday."

"I should have imagined otherwise," remarked his companion: "the other
passengers are all suffering from sea-sickness, while you and I only are
on the deck. I presumed, therefore, that you had been afloat before."

"I did feel very giddy yesterday evening," observed Alexander, "but this
morning I have no unpleasant sensation whatever. I believe that some
people do not suffer at sea."

"A very few; but it appears that you are one of those most fortunate,
for by experience I know how painful and distressing the sickness is for
some time. Breakfast will soon be ready; do you think that you can eat
any?"

"Yes, a little--not much; a cup of tea or coffee," replied Alexander;
"but I can not say that I have my usual appetite. What bird is that
which skims along the water?"

"It is the _procellarius_, as we naturalists call it, but in English,
the stormy petrel; its presence denotes rough weather coming on."

"Then I wish it had not made its appearance," said Alexander, laughing;
"for with rough weather, there will of course be more motion in the