CHAPTER X. RETURN TO BRAZIL. - START IN THE 'MERSEY'-STRANGE COLOUR IN THE WATER-LAND- N the 27th of September the 'Mersey' dropped down ON the river, and anchored at Montevideo early in the next morning. According to regulations we waited there for two days; and at noon on the 30th Captain Curlewis with his usual punctuality gave the order to go a-head. The weather was delightful, and we started with as good a prospect of a pleasant voyage as could be expected on that uncertain coast. Early in the morning of October the 1st we passed through two very large patches of reddish-brown water, which contrasted strangely with all around it. No one on board had ever seen such a thing before on that part DISCOLOURED WATER. 217 of the coast, and the captain stopped the ship to see if, by any possibility, we were going over an unknown shoal. The lead, however, gave twenty fathoms water, so we went on our way wondering what cause could have so completely discoloured several miles of sea.* Some one suggested that it might be a set of fresh water on the surface, but on hauling up a bucketful we found not the least diminution of the usual saltness. Whether it had anything to do with the weather I cannot say, but on the following morning all pleasant symptoms had departed. A heavy gale was blowing right a-head, and a furious sea was flying in sheets of spray and water from one end of the ship to the other; the deck was so flooded that the scuppers could not carry off the water, and the engines were eased to prevent her driving through it too heavily. The cape pigeons and the stormy petrels screamed and whirled in our wake, caring nothing for the savage blast as they steadily fulfilled their destiny, and swept monotonously over the foaming crests. Next day two shore-birds came on board, having been blown away by the fury of the gale, and seeming very glad to find something which they could hold on by. One was a lovely little creature, pure crimson in colour, and the other was a kind of butcher-bird, which is the most constant and sociable frequenter of the * They were probably shoals of minute confervæ, like those observed by Mr. Darwin higher up on the coast of Brazil.-Voyage of the 'Beagle, p. 14. 6 Buenos Ayrean gardens: it is called in Spanish bien te veo,' or 'I see you well,' from a cry resembling those words. Their favourite position was in one of the ship's boats, and when disturbed they made very short flights, taking good care to keep close to the ship. They kept company with us all day and all the next night, soon after which they were captured by the sailors, and added to the menagerie which Jack generally likes to have in the forecastle. I dearly love stormy weather at sea, and for two days I had a good opportunity of enjoying myself in that way. It was a grand sight to watch the long hull of the Mersey' dipping down the side of a huge wave, and then rising with a joyous shake of the head, which sent sheets of spray and broken water flying sometimes over the foreyard. The possession of a sound stomach makes one rather unfeeling under these circumstances towards the sufferings of weaker brethren; and I am conscious of having upon this occasion behaved in a way to justify the criticism, though the cause may perhaps be held to justify me in return. The doctor and I were smoking a pipe in the driest place we could find under shelter of the bulwark, when an unlucky Brazilian staggered past us, and, making for the first door he could see, prepared to pour his sorrows into the bath-room! There was no time for gentle remonstrance, but we made a rush at him with loud shouts, accompanied by violent shaking and vituperation. The sorrow-stricken look of the poor wretch almost made me regret the harshness; but what else could we do? The ship behaved nobly through the gale, though I was obliged to stop the continuance of my journal for a couple of days. Sitting and standing were feats of skill, but I would have defied Blondin himself to write a letter in the ridiculous positions occasionally assumed by the chairs and tables of the cabin. Though I could thoroughly enjoy the weather in the daytime, yet the long night passed in one's berth during a gale of wind is hardly so pleasant as on shore: the combination of groaning, roaring, shaking, bumping, rattling, and quivering, accompanied by the various noises of pails, plates, chairs, and glasses flying from their proper place, makes sleep almost impossible; and on the third day we all rejoiced to find a glorious sunshine and a gradually subsiding sea. Among our passengers were three working engineers, on their way home to England after completing a contract for three years with the government of Paraguay; and I learnt a good deal about the state of things in that very out-of-the-way part of the world. President Lopez was doing everything in his power to promote the progress and developement of the country. He had imported a staff of English engineers, who were well paid and well treated; a railway and various public works were progressing favourably. These men had been receiving monthly 167. sterling, with free quarters, and 4l, more for provisions. They complained of the climate being fearfully hot for three months in the year, and excessively changeable during part of the southern winter. One of them said he had often been utterly exhausted by excessive heat, and reduced to that state in which Sydney Smith said he should like to take off his skin and sit in his bones,' only a few hours after being compelled to warm himself against the side of a boiler. English doctors have also been in request among the Paraguayans; and one of the pleasantest of my fellowpassengers from England was an assistant-surgeon in our army, who, after serving through the Crimean war, had been induced by handsome pay and the prospect of gratifying his sporting propensities to form one of the medical staff of the Paraguayan troops. He was particularly interested in cases of tetanus, or lockjaw, and I understand he has had a great many cases of it to deal with. It is certainly true that for some reason or other this fearful malady is much more common through a great part of South America than in other parts of the world, and often results from the most trifling wounds. A member of the club at Buenos Ayres died of it after running a small splinter of a skittle-ball under his nail. I am informed that one of my medical friends in that city has lately succeeded in curing two cases by constant use of chloroform-lasting in one instance for, I think, eight days. A quarrel with President Lopez had been the cause |