so that I shall have the pleasure of a nosegay during the rest of the
voyage. The sailors had not forgotten a green bough or two to adorn the
ship, and the bird-cage was soon as bowery as leaves could make it.

Though the weather is now very fine, we make but slow progress; the
provoking wind seems determined to blow from every quarter but the
right. We float up with the flood tide, and when the tide fails cast
anchor, and wait with the best grace we can till it is time to weigh
anchor again. I amuse myself with examining the villages and settlements
through the captain's glass, or watching for the appearance of the white
porpoises tumbling among the waves. These creatures are of a milky
whiteness, and have nothing of the disgusting look of the black ones.
Sometimes a seal pops its droll head up close beside our vessel, looking
very much like Sinbad's little old man of the sea.

It is fortunate for me that my love of natural history enables me to
draw amusement from objects that are deemed by many unworthy of
attention. To me they present an inexhaustible fund of interest. The
simplest weed that grows in my path, or the fly that flutters about me,
are subjects for reflection, admiration and delight.

We are now within sight of Green Island. It is the largest, and I
believe one of the most populous we have passed. Every minute now seems
to increase the beauty of the passage. Far as the eye can reach you see
the shore thronged with villages and farms in one continuous line. On
the southern side all are gay and glittering with the tin roofs on the
most important buildings; the rest are shingles, whitewashed. This I do
not like so well as the plain shingled roofs; the whiteness of the roofs
of the cottages and homesteads have a glaring effect, and we look in
vain for that relief to the eye that is produced by the thatched or