because of the resemblance it presents to the schist- Many have imagined the discovery of the jets oil imported from Britain; but its universal name of petroleum was a fortunate chance, bought at is Seneca oil, from the name of a large and power- the price of small effort; it was not so. During ful tribe of Indians formerly settled in Canada six years, the seekers arrived at no result, and the states of New York and Pennsylvania. but their perseverance was at length rewarded. These Indians made use of it for many different The flowing wells were reached, and jets of oil, medicinal purposes, and also for sorcery, for which water, and gas, mixed in one inflammable stream, also it was known by the inhabitants of the Medi- spouted out of the earth, often to an immense terranean coasts two thousand years ago. Pliny height. It is, however, with its transmission and describes twenty-seven kinds of remedies drawn refining that this paper has to do, and not to from the liquid bitumen of Babylon and Zante. describe scenes at the oil-wells. It was well when It was employed in the treatment of rheumatism, they had produced the article, but great difficulties asthma, gout, chest affections, to prevent the putre- were to be overcome before it could reach the faction of wounds, and for the cure of epilepsy and markets in the interior and the sea-ports. intermittent fevers. Occasionally it was employed in war, and also as a means of punishment; Pliny himself suggesting that Medea used it to consume her rival. Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy, describes a variety of symptoms which the organic frame manifests under the influence of ambercoloured petroleum. The first pioneers on the Ohio are said to have burned the crude oil in their lamps, which they found on the little river Muskingum; this came no doubt from leakages produced by the filtration of rain-water through the ground. The use of this matter was, however, so restricted that the Virginian miners looked upon it as a real calamity when they met with veins of petroleum running through the layers of mineral salt. It was only in 1853 that a speculator of New York, a barrister, and afterwards known as the Oil-king, noticed a bottle of the liquid, which had come from a valley in the county of Venango, to the north-west of Pennsylvania, lying in a chemist's laboratory. Struck with the idea that this would replace the Scotch Boghead for the fabrication of mineral oils, he immediately bought all the land in this valley where its presence had been recognised. The following year, the Pennsylvanian Rock-oil Company was organised at New York, to be followed by many other petroleum companies. The next step was to obtain the oil in sufficient quantities to distil it so economically that it could be sold at a lower price than the schist-oils. At first, they made use of barrels which were laid on large teams, and thus carried over the roads; but it was found to be both dangerous and expensive. The barrels, though made on the spot with wood from the forest, cost much, and the return fare must be paid, though they were empty. The owners were under the thumb of the rough people who undertook the transport; drivers and owners of horses, recruited from deserters or the scum of large towns, reigned as masters; they felt that they were essential, and could not be dispensed with, so their demands threatened to swallow up the profits of the producers. Now the greater part of the petroleum is sent to its destination by means of oil-pipes of small diameter, which cross the runs, are carried under rivers, wind through ravines, and are passed over high hills, laid upon wooden props fixed into the ground. Some of these lines are four leagues in length; in many cases the difference of level between the point of departure and arrival causes the oil to flow freely; in others, it is necessary to employ a steam-engine. Special companies have been organised for this particular part of the business, which is regularly managed without giving rise to any contention. As every one is busily engaged with his own affairs, no one thinks of injuring the pipes, even when they are filled with the oil of a rival company; they are looked upon as indispensable for the life of the country. The conductors of the teams too, dispossessed of their monopoly, made no riot or objection; when labour can always find its market, they had no reason to recriminate, but soon started for the mines of Nevada or Colorado, to offer their services there, leaving the field free to the men of oil. The founders of this new business had to solve two problems, which had hitherto defied the chemist. For the one, they must set to work the best apparatus for distillation and rectification of the petroleum; for the other, they must dig into the earth to reach the lower strata, from whence it From year to year too, it is proved that it is more was supposed that the little rivulets of oil issued. advantageous to distil the oil on the very place No anterior discovery had authorised them to where it issues from the earth. A great movement encourage the hope that they would meet with towards concentration has commenced during the these reservoirs, still less that they would be abun- last three or four years. The distilleries of Liverdant. As for the first, it was a question for science pool, Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp, Rouen, Paris, to decide. The directors went at once to New-Marseille, and Genoa have gradually extinguished haven, to one of the professors of Yale College, a celebrated institution in Connecticut, where the highest class of education is given. They proposed that he should study in all its bearings the problem of the transformation of the original substance into a useful light; they engaged to set up a special laboratory, and to pay liberally for the expenses of every kind which the nature of the work would necessitate. In order to avoid the evils in which too hasty speculation might involve the work of science, it was decided that the company should transfer its office to Newhaven, and that the professor should be made the president of the acting council. their fires. America now exports but a very small quantity of the raw material, so that the great number of refiners on this side the Atlantic have given up the contest, and become importers of oil distilled by Americans. Even now the refiners of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia are in some degree superseded by centres nearer to the place of production. At the present time, Corry, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh are the three points to which the largest quantities of the raw petroleum are sent to be distilled, put into barrels, and forwarded to every quarter of the globe. When the oil issues from the pipes, it is run into tank-cars or bulk-boats, according as it is to be sent forward by railway or by water. The former is the framework of a luggage-wagon, a truck on which are placed two reservoirs, similar to those used round the oil-wells, and will hold about fifteen tuns of oil. As to the latter, it is a boat resembling the coal-lighters made to pass up rivers; small steamers tow thirty or forty of these lighters at once, fastened together like long rafts. On one occasion, one of these rafts dashed against the piles of the bridge at Oil City: the destruction was immense; the contents were spread in streams over the Alleghany river, and it was a happy circumstance that the oil met with no spark of fire on the way, for the contact of water only serves to increase the virulence of the flames of petroleum. It is said that a boatman had the presence of mind to raise in haste, around the little island where he lived, a rough kind of pier, and thus was enabled | to collect many hundred barrels of oil, which no one claimed from him. Such accidents are, however, very rare, and the cargoes generally reach Pittsburgh in safety. In consequence of the many advantages afforded by a network of navigable rivers, this town, situated at the confluence of the Alleghany and the Monongahela, which unite at this point to form the Ohio, is the largest dépôt for petroleum in America. Not only does it supply the market for the interior, but it also takes a foremost place in that for exportation. It lies nearer to the Atlantic Ocean, by way of Baltimore, than those manufacturing centres which export by way of Philadelphia and New York. Besides, the oil always maintains there a comparative cheapness, and the refiners find exceptional facilities in a town of this importance, supplied with every possible resource in material, in workmen, in scientific institutions, and not least in its being situated in the middle of a basin of coal richer even than that of our own country. Thus, it is not astonishing that the largest refineries in the whole world should be found at Pittsburgh. The petroleum arrives there by water: from the boats it is pumped into iron reservoirs safe from fire. One of these reservoirs has the capacity of holding twenty thousand barrels, which will weigh two thousand five hundred tons-being a load sufficient for two or three first-class sailing-vessels. Many more of these reservoirs are in course of construction, so that two hundred and fifty thousand barrels will be refined in one year in each. In order to refine the petroleum-that is to say, to extract from it the oil for lighting-the same process is used as that for making spirits of wine. The petroleum is heated in a vessel similar to the alembic in which the liquid of fermented grapes is placed; the oil vapour is condensed like the vapour of alcohol, by cooling as it passes through a winding tube surrounded by cold water. Those who have to do with these petroleum vapours must necessarily use the greatest precaution; in the great distillery of Pittsburgh each department is under special regulations, and occupies a separate building; that for distilling is built entirely of iron. There are ten alembics, each capable of holding_three thousand five hundred barrels at once. Instead of being exposed to the direct action of fire, they are warmed by a current of dry vapour, which has previously circulated in pipes of three or four hundred feet in length, and these are surrounded on all sides by the flames of three stoves. During the earlier stages of the work, they are heated to a low temperature only, so that the lighter gases alone escape. These, which are well known by the odour of ether which they evolve, are the only explosive element in petroleum, and are altogether different from the oil of lighting, properly so called. Under the name of benzole, they are used, in addition to that extracted from coal, for dissolving resinous substances and fat bodies. The lighting oil is distilled when the temperature is higher; the vapour produced during this second period also passes through the winding pipe of the alembic, and is condensed in a refrigerator, from which the liquid is sent to be washed. At this time the refining process may be said to commence; it consists in purifying the oil by submitting it to a treatment of sulphuric acid, and then to another of some alkali. During this operation, the mixture is powerfully worked together for a long time by means of a sort of battledore moved by steam. Thus is obtained a beautiful colourless fluid, which acquires a slightly opal tint under reflected rays of light. Before sending this out into the market, it is submitted in the workshop to the 'trial by fire;' in other words, the makers assure themselves that when warmed to a degree of heat required by law, it emits no inflammable vapour. For this purpose, the bulb of a ther mometer is plunged into a porcelain or glass vessel containing the oil, above which a small spiritlamp is lighted. As soon as the thermometer marks that the temperature has reached the limit, that of a hundred and ten degrees of Fahrenheit, a light is passed over the surface of the liquid: if it have allowed any vapour to escape, this immediately takes fire, in which case the oil is returned to the alembics, to submit to a new distillation. After this oil has been finally removed, that substance which still remains in the alembics has to be acted upon: the temperature is again raised, and a heavy common oil is collected, which is generally employed to lubricate many kinds of machines. It is during this time that the paraffine is distilled; great care is taken that the temperature of the refrigerator should not descend to so low a degree as that this production should coagulate in the pipe, as it would cause a sudden stoppage in the circulation of the vapours, and the iron alembic would burst. The paraffine, still fluid, is directed into large cellars, where it coagulates after a certain time. Once congealed, it is placed under a hydraulic press; the liquid which runs from the paraffine during this operation is still an oily matter; it lies under the press in a flat rectangular mass, dry and white, recalling the white part of the whale. It is sold for the most part into Kentucky, where some manufactories of wax-lights are established. The last of the products contained in the raw petroleum is a kind of coke, heavier than that made from coal, and of a bright shining black colour; it attaches itself to the bottom of the alembics, and burns very well in the stoves like charcoal. In those manufactories where the distillation is carried on by the direct action of fire, the most frequent accidents arise from the escape of the vapour from the petroleum. By covering the tubes with a thick layer of bricks, the chances of a rupture of the metallic pipes are much diminished; but it is important to be ready to extinguish an instant any conflagration that may occur. For this purpose, each of the furnaces has a large room in front of it, which can be hermetically closed by an arrangement of thick iron doors: two large pipes issuing from the stoves permit those outside to extinguish the flames by inundating this room, the stove, the conduits, and the chimney with steam. The effect of the vapour is instantaneous, but safety lies in the promptitude of the application; the men must be ready in a few seconds to flee out of the room, close the doors, and turn the taps. To manage all these operations on the large scale adopted at Pittsburgh requires an able chemist. He is indeed the very life and soul of the business, and the real director; so the shareholders have built him a splendid house in a very picturesque part of the valley. When looking at that, the homes of the oil princes in the Fifth Avenue at New York may be imagined. As they have the whole world for their customers, their fortunes rest upon a more solid basis than is ordinarily supposed. The follies of some, and the disorder caused at first by impatient and covetous gamblers, were only accidents of the early period, and simply affected the outside of things. COVETOUSNESS is supposed to be the favourite vice of age, which seems to me strange. I am old, and no longer hunger after wealth. What good would it do me now? My habits are settled, my passions are extinct: quiet, freedom from pain and care, and the preservation of my eyesight, are the only blessings I crave. I have enough for food and clothing; not enough to tempt others to flatter, cajole, and deceive me. But early in life I longed for riches with an unwholesome yearning; money seemed to me the greatest good, yet even money was not worth toiling for. When I indulged in airy castle-building-which was very often-I always pictured myself as finding a treasure; landing a double event at tremendous odds; having a fortune left me; or becoming suddenly rich in some equally facile manner-never slowly, by hard work. In many novels, the hero, poor, determines to achieve wealth and fame at the end of one chapter; and when the next opens, he has done so. The intervening years of humdrum are jumped. I wanted to jump them too. I was quite willing to be ten years older and ten thousand times richer, could such a bargain have been made. But it couldn't; and I dawdled the ten years away, and was just as poor as at the commencement. And yet I was once for a few hours, actually and literally, a rich man; and it happened in a way which my fancy had not pictured. The prodigalities of one of the early proprietors are still spoken of. He went by the name of Coaloil Johnny, and was for some time a very fashionable person, as he found the means of dissipating about thirty thousand pounds in twenty months. On the borders of Oil Creek was a farm belonging to the Widow M'Clintock, which produced a very valuable stream of oil; those who worked it paid a royalty of two thousand dollars a day to her. She adopted the dangerous habit of rousing up her wood-fire by pouring the raw petroleum upon it, the result of which was, that one day she was burned to death in a frightful manner, leaving the farm and all her personalty to her adopted son, I was fond of travelling about, and my small John Steele. The heir was twenty years old, of means caused me to seek inexpensive modes of conan easy disposition, rather low in his tastes, and veyance. My legs were the cheapest; and I walked poorly educated. Parasites were only too ready to all over England, Scotland, and Wales; but the Hock around him, when it was known how much coast stopped me, for I could not swim the Channel. ready money had been found in the coffers of the Pay for my passage I must, but I would pay as little departed lady; and from that time he began a as I could help; so I chose a long sea-route from course of boundless extravagance. To pay his London to Holland. As the boat started in the Christmas visits, Steele bought the most splendid small-hours of the night, I passed the evening in equipage in New York, and in the evening dis- mild dissipation. Dined off a chop and cheese with missed the coachman, giving him as a fee the a pint of cooper,' followed by a pipe and glass carriage and pair. On another occasion, he set up of rack-punch. Sat in the pit of a theatre from a troupe of Christy Minstrels, each of whom ap-curtain-rise to curtain-set, only leaving when the peared with a magnificent diamond pin. He now fills the post of porter at the very theatre which he organised. As to the farm, it was sold by auction to pay his debts, and in 1868 was still giving out three hundred barrels of oil in a day. There have been many hypotheses advanced as to the origin of petroleum. Most American savants believe its origin to be organic. The decomposition of marine plants or gelatinous animals which lived in early times on the shores of primitive seas, would produce mineral oil by a process of distillation, when excluded from the air, just as inflammable gas is found in marshes. This would explain the presence of salt water which is in all the American oil-wells; the cavities of the rocks which have served as a tomb for these rudimentary organisms imprisoned the waters of the sea as well. In Europe, a country much shaken by eruptive forces, illustrious geologists and chemists attribute a volcanic origin to petroleum, as it generally rests brown holland appeared. Then a potato at a singing-tavern brought me to half-past twelve, and it was time to go to my inn in Holborn for my luggage. This was not extensive, consisting merely of a leathern bag, which could be worn when I liked as a knapsack; and with this in my left hand, and a stout oak stick tipped with a formidable ferrule in my right, I sought the Docks. This must seem so very eccentric to young people of the present day, that I think it better to mention that it was upwards of thirty years ago: cabs and habits of luxury have considerably increased since then. In the neighbourhood of the Tower, the streets were quite deserted, and it was a curious experience to hear one's footsteps re-echoing in the very centre of the capital of Bustle. The traffic, rolling dockwards by the main arteries of the city, only reached the ear as a faint, muffled murmur, like that of the distant sea. Turning into a small Place-a triangle of houses, with a paved court in its centre however, I came upon a group of three men, who | seemed to be engaged in a scuffle, and supposing it to be a drunken row, I was passing on without notice, when one of them called out Murder!' What a fine old English word that is-how expressive! The sight of it in large print gives the blood a pleasant curdle, and forces the purchase of an evening paper upon the man whose coppers would never be charmed out of him by any simple assassination.' But heard in the stillness of night there is a muttered horror in the word which is appalling. I am not a chivalrous man; I shrink instinctively from incurring danger or even discomfort on behalf of a friend, let alone a stranger; but there was an earnestness about that cry which arrested my steps. Again, in a more stifled tone: Murder! Help!' I advanced towards the group, and saw, by the light of a dim lamp, that two of the men were stooping over a third, who lay on the ground. One of these rose on hearing my footsteps, and warned me with an oath to go my way and mind my own business; and as I did not heed him, he raised his right arm and ran at me. Knowing something of fencing, I lunged as he came up, catching him low in the chest with the ferule of my stick, and he rolled over into the road with a gasp and a groan, and lay there, doubled up. His mate stood up, hesitated a moment, irresolute, and then turned to flee; I struck him over the head as he went, but failed to bring him down, and he got away. Glad enough to be rid of him, I went to the assistance of his victim, who still lay on the pavement; but he was not seriously injured; and when I had loosened his neckcloth, and poured some of the contents of my travelling flask down his throat, he was able to get up. Fortunately for him, garrotting had not been yet cultivated as a science, and he was only quarter-throttled. His first care was to feel a pocket inside his waistcoat, having done which, he said in a tone of intense relief: 'They have not got it! Thanks to you, young man, they have not got it! You won't leave me? You will see me to the boat? I can walk. O yes, I am better now.' 'Don't be afraid,' said I; 'I will not leave you till you are safe. What boat do you mean?' "The Rotterdam.' "Why, I am going by that myself. I am glad you can walk, for we have not got overmuch time to lose.' We were not more than a quarter of a mile from the wharf, and had half an hour to do it in; but I did not think it incumbent upon me to go to the assistance of the man who had served me as a plastron, and who still lay in the road; SO we went our way, and left him there; and whether he came round presently, or received any permanent injury to his constitution from that poke in the stomach, I know not. The man I had rescued was gray-haired, with a wizened face deeply scored by wrinkles, and a frame which did not seem capable of making the stubborn resistance which he must have done in defence of his property. The cab in which he started for the Docks had broken down, and afraid of being late, he had taken a short-cut through the by-streets on foot, and had been set upon by the rascals with whom I found him. That was the simple account he gave me on our way to the wharf, which we reached in time. As for his luggage, that had been taken on board in the morning, when his berth was chosen. The latter precaution I had neglected, but found no difficulty in securing sleeping accommodation, for the vessel was not crowded; indeed, there were but three passengers besides myself and the old man. Not being used to five hours of theatre, followed by a walk and an encounter with street-thieves, I was tired, and turned in soon after we started. When I awoke, there was no vibration, no din of revolving paddles. Had I slept through the passage, and were we at our journey's end? Hardly, for in that case we should be in still water, not swaying to this side and that, bending backwards, pitching forwards, and bringing ourselves up with a jerk, like a sleepy man during a long sermon, as we were doing. I sat up and looked over the side of my berth, which was on the upper tier, and saw the head of my rescued old man peering out from the sleeping-place below. 'Do you think there is anything the matter?' he asked. Why are we not going on? Why does that bell keep on ringing?' Roused by this unpleasant suggestion of peril, I wriggled off my shelf, managed, after several bau shots, to get my feet into giddy boots and my arms into intoxicated coat-sleeves, reeled up to the deck, and found a fog. It was one of the densest I have ever been in; you could not see across the deck, and a man standing a couple of yards off resembled a figure in one of Turner's later pictures. The effect was the more confusing from the mist not being stationary, for a stiffish breeze sent rolling masses of it sweeping over us. The waves of fog mingled with the waves of water, and the eye could not distinguish which was which, while the large bell forward kept up a continual tinkle, tinkle, in muffled tones, as though the fog were composed of wool, pulled out very fine, particles of which had clogged the clapper. I am happy to be able to boast that I did not worry the captain, as passengers are so foolishly apt to do when things look a little awkward. But I got near him, and listened and observed, and made out by degrees that we were somewhere in the channels about the Nore, and in momentary expectation of being run into, or grounding on the sands, and that, when we revolved our paddles, which we did at intervals, the chance of running into somebody else was added. . The lead was constantly being heaved, and at one time when the water shoaled very much, the mate suggested anchoring, but the captain ruled that this would increase our risk of being run down, and preferred keeping loose and able to dodge about-of course, using nautical expressions, which I cannot pretend to repeat. Directly the state of affairs became obvious to me, I went below and brought up my old man, for in case of some other ship's beak suddenly crushing into our sides, the prospects of those who were under water-mark seemed-if you will pardon a slang term in consideration of its extraordinary aptness-very fishy. And he was grateful, for the danger of a collision was very real. Probably the mouth of the Thames is familiar to you, but if not, know that vessels enter it by a number of roads, duly buoyed out and light-housed. These roads or channels being narrow, and the number of outward and homeward bound ships very great, a thick ing or a snow-storm is a serious peril. About noon the wind increased in violence, and blew the fog away, so that we were able to go on fearlessly; and by and by, when the excitement had calmed down, my old man grew pleasant and chatty. The sea ran rather high; but as neither of us suffered from sea-sickness, this tended to raise our spirits, as the strong air sharpened our appetites; and though every now and then a big wave would shiver itself against our weather-bow, and send a shower of its fragments sweeping across the deck, we got well under the shelter of the paddle-box, and enjoyed it. To my surprise, on one occasion when he wanted to draw my attention to something, I happening to be looking another way, my companion spoke to me by name. 'You know me ?' I asked. 'Certainly,' he replied; you sold me some jewels five years ago. I even remember the circumstances. A property had to be divided amongst the various members of your family, and the diamonds were too valuable to be allotted to any individual, so that it was necessary to turn them into money; and you had the management of the transaction, which was carried out through my agency.' I He was perfectly accurate in the account which he gave me, even recalling to my mind certain minutia which I had forgotten, though surely they ought to have impressed me more strongly than him. I presently remembered his face, however; indeed, it had struck me as familiar when the lamp-light first fell upon it the night before. But his hair had turned from black to white, and the loss of his teeth had caused his cheeks to fall inchanges that alter the physiognomy more radically than any other which leave the eyes untouched. suppose that he had made inquiries about me at the time when the business alluded to was transacted, and that their result was such as to inspire him with confidence, for he talked to me about his present affairs with a freedom which surprised me, though I had done him a good turn. For, in truth, he had that on him which it was as well not to blab about. He carried in an inner pocket of his waistcoat no fewer than twenty-five rough diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires, which he was taking to Holland to be cut. I am too old for such business now,' he said. 'If you had not come to my rescue last night, and those rascals had got hold of the stones, I should have been ruined, ruined!' Whether they were his own, or he had but a share in them, or whether they were merely intrusted to him, I cannot say; he did not tell me; but from the hints he threw out of their value, which, if the diamonds were at all worthy of the expense he was prepared to incur for cutting them, must have been enormous-enormous in the ordinary, not the Monte Cristo or Lothair sense-it is not probable that they were entirely the property of one man. While we were conversing, the wind was growing in violence, till at length we could not make ourselves heard without difficulty, and the paddleboxes no longer afforded much protection against the spray, which searched the whole deck. The skipper of a passage-boat always takes the freedom of a passenger from sickness at dinnertime as a personal compliment; and as our present captain had helped each of us to the everlasting boiled mutton twice, we had a right to his good opinion. So he came up to us, and told the diamond-merchant that he thought there was going to be a little wind, and he would be more comfortable below. On the old man acquiescing, he took him in tow, and guided him safely to the cabin-stairs, to my great relief, for I feared that duty would devolve on me; and my legs not being so nautical as my stomach, we should infallibly have rolled together in the lee-scuppers (whatever they may be), or overboard. The captain came back presently; and as he passed me, he shouted in my ear: 'I'd go too, if I were you.' Presently,' I roared in reply. This is a new sight to me. Just five minutes more.' Hold on tight, then.' No need to bid me 'hold tight.' I was clinging to the rope I grasped with great tenacity, for every now and then the deck became so steep that my feet slipped from under me, and the wave-tops that left their own element and came flying across us, struck me with a force which I had not hitherto attributed to water, unless shot out of the hose of an engine. It was a grand scene. I had never witnessed anything like it before. I had indeed seen more than one storm on a bold coast, but there is all the difference between a wave breaking on the shore and a wave in the open sea that there is between a caged lion and a lion in the desert. It is a great thing in these nil admirari days to be able to feel awe, and I experienced that sensation. Nature seemed so vast, so irresistible; man, so puny and weak. I had read many descriptions, both in prose and verse, of storms at sea, but had never caught an idea of the truth from them, so that I despair of being able to express what I felt. It was so absurd that I had ever reckoned the little lives and histories of my kind so highly. I caught a glimpse of the fact that we men, who give ourselves such airs, are but as mites in a cheese. Doubtless, there may be good mites and bad, wise mites and foolish, but when they are mashed up together with a lump of butter, at the point of a knife, they are merged in equal insignificance. As an individual mite, however, I began to feel cold, wet, and uncomfortable, and commenced a series of acrobatic performances having for their object the attainment, first of the cabin-stairs, and then of my berth. In time all this was accomplished, though not without some bruises; then, perched on my shelf, I succeeded in getting rid of my wet outer garments, and rolling myself up in a blanket, was soon rocked to sleep. I was awaked by a violent concussion. Have you ever, when going up-stairs in the dark, expected another step when you were on the level, and got a jerk which tried every nerve in your body? Well, that was the effect. Whether I was thrown out of my berth, or jumped down in a panic, I don't know. I remember trampling on something, which must have been the diamond merchant; stumbling into the saloon, catching a glimpse of three wild-eyed passengers, prostrate hitherto with sea-sickness, but now cured by fear; struggling up the cabin-stairs against a torrent of water which came pouring down them; and at last reaching the deck. The day was breaking. The wind had gone down somewhat. A low line of coast was visible |