To add to my troubles, the wind in the morning shifted to the
south-east, and thus became a head wind, and the old brig became
more restless than ever, and pitched and rolled to leeward
occasionally with a lurch, performing clumsy antics in the water
which my imagination never pictured, and which I could neither
admire nor applaud.

For several days we were beating about Massachusetts Bay and St.
George's Bank, making slow progress on our voyage. During that
time I was really seasick, and took little note of passing
events, being stretched on the deck, a coil of rope, or a chest,
musing on the past or indulging in gloomy reflections in regard
to the future. Seasickness never paints ideal objects of a
roseate hue. Although I was not called upon for much actual
work, I received no sympathy for my miserable condition; for
seasickness, like the toothache, is seldom fatal, notwithstanding
it is as distressing a malady as is found in the catalogue of
diseases, and one for which no preventive or cure, excepting
time, has yet been discovered. Time is a panacea for every ill;
and after the lapse of ten or twelve days, as the brig was
drawing towards the latitude of Bermuda, my sickness disappeared
as suddenly as it commenced; and one pleasant morning I threw
aside my shore dress, and with it my landsman's habits and
feelings. I donned my short jacket and trousers, and felt every
inch a sailor!

The Bermudas are a cluster of small islands and rocks lying in
the track of vessels bound from New England to the West Indies.
The climate is mild, and the atmosphere remarkably salubrious,
while the trace of ocean in the vicinity has long been noted for