_Sunday, August 13th_.--Sailing in the tropics is really very
delightful! When going to the westward, there is almost always, at
this season of the year, a favourable breeze, and the weather is
generally either quite fair or moderately so.

Whispered to it, westward, westward,
And with speed it darted forward.

We had service at 11.15 a.m., and again at 5.30 p.m. The choir has
considerably improved; one of our new men plays the violin very well,
and frequently accompanies the children and the nurse in their songs.
On a clear calm night, beneath a tropical sky, when the members of
this little group assemble on deck, and, by the light of a lantern,
sing some of their simple songs, the effect produced is both melodious
and picturesque.

The wind dropped at about 10 p.m., and we had an unpleasant amount of
roll during the night, sails flapping, spars creaking, and booms
swinging as if they would pull the masts out of the vessel.

[Illustration: Vespers.]

_Monday, August 14th_.--This morning we saw a small schooner ahead,
and thinking from her manoeuvres that she wished to speak us, we made
our number and ran towards her. We soon found out, however, that she
was a whaler, in chase of two large grampuses. She had two men on the
look-out in the cross-trees, in a sort of iron cage; and though she
was of much smaller tonnage than the 'Sunbeam,' she carried five big
boats, one of which, full of men, was ready to be lowered into the