Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/27

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THE VOYAGE.

REFLECTIONS ON LEAVING LAND—DUTIES OF THE SABBATH-DAY—MEETS A VESSEL IN DISTRESS—TRADE WINDS—MADEIRA—FLYING FISH DESCRIBED—PILOT FISH—PORTUGUESE MAN OF WAR—MEMORIALS OF HOME—EPITAPH ON HIS SPANIEL—RAIN—A STRANGE SAIL—CROSSING THE LINE—THE SOUTHERN CROSS—THE CAPE—STANZAS—TERMINATION OF THE VOYAGE.

Dear Brother,

Exhausted with sleeplessness and agitation, I threw myself into my berth soon after you and my dear father left me, still indulging a hope of seeing you on board once more before sailing. On awaking from long and painful slumber, disturbed by a confusion of all imaginable noises, I found that a steamer had taken us out of the harbour in the course of the night, and that we were at a considerable distance from land. The reflection then crossed me, that I was for the first time separated from my family and friends,

and placed as it were, alone on the ocean of