entrance to St. George's Harbour.

It was lucky for us that we got to anchor at the time we did, for that
same afternoon one of the most tremendous gales of wind from the
westward came on that I ever saw. Fortunately it was steady and did
not veer about, and having good ground-tackle down, we rode it out well
enough. The effect was very uncommon; the wind was howling over our
mast-heads, and amongst the cedar bushes on the cliffs above, while on
deck it was nearly calm, and there was very little swell, being a
weather shore; but half a mile out at sea all was white foam, and the
tumbling waves seemed to meet from north and south, leaving a space of
smooth water under the lee of the island, shaped like the tail of a
comet, tapering away, and gradually roughening and becoming more
stormy, until the roaring billows once more owned allegiance to the
genius of the storm.

There we rode, with three anchors ahead, in safety through the night;
and next day, availing of a temporary lull, we ran up and anchored off
the Tanks. Three days after this, the American frigate _President_ was
brought in by the Endymion and the rest of the squadron.

I went on board, in common with every officer in the fleet, and
certainly I never saw a more superb vessel; her scantling was that of a
seventy-four, and she appeared to have been fitted with great care. I
got a week's leave at this time, and, as I had letters to several
families, I contrived to spend my time pleasantly enough.

Bermuda, as all the world knows, is a cluster of islands in the middle
of the Atlantic. There are Lord knows how many of them, but the beauty
of the little straits and creeks which divide them no man can describe