The sun brought all the sick people out of their berths this
morning, and the indescribable moans and noises which had been
issuing from behind the fine painted doors on each side of the
cabin happily ceased. Long before sunrise, I had the good fortune
to discover that it was no longer necessary to maintain the
horizontal posture, and, the very instant this truth was apparent,
came on deck, at two o'clock in the morning, to see a noble full
moon sinking westward, and millions of the most brilliant stars
shining overhead. The night was so serenely pure, that you saw
them in magnificent airy perspective; the blue sky around and over
them, and other more distant orbs sparkling above, till they
glittered away faintly into the immeasurable distance. The ship
went rolling over a heavy, sweltering, calm sea. The breeze was a
warm and soft one; quite different to the rigid air we had left
behind us, two days since, off the Isle of Wight. The bell kept
tolling its half-hours, and the mate explained the mystery of watch
and dog-watch.
The sight of that noble scene cured all the woes and discomfitures
of sea-sickness at once, and if there were any need to communicate
such secrets to the public, one might tell of much more good that
the pleasant morning-watch effected; but there are a set of
emotions about which a man had best be shy of talking lightly, - and
the feelings excited by contemplating this vast, magnificent,
harmonious Nature are among these.
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