A VOYAGE TO THE ANTIPODES.

(Continued from page 124.) On Saturdays the crew are exercised in boat and fire quarters, during the first they each stand by their own boats with an officer in charge; they then cast the boats clear of their lashings, run them in, and place them in their chocks on deck; then launch them over the side again. The signal for the second is given by the fire-bell being rung, on which all hands assemble near the mainmast, the stewards all carrying buckets, pails, or anything handy that might be useful in putting out a fire (some of the passengers occasionally join in the meet, carrying water bottles or some other article equally effective), the crew bring along the hose and connect them ready for use. With respect to the boats there is one point of view which is not very reassuring-namely, that in the event of our having unfortunately to take to them they could not possibly carry all on board, together with the necessary stores. This, however, I believe, is quite a usual state of things in large passenger or emigrant ships, but how it can be reconciled with the paternal oversight of the Board of Trade I am unable to understand, What is the use of the elaborate rules made by the Department as to the number of oars, water breakers, and minute fittings which they are so careful that the boats shall carry, when in the event of their compulsory use, half or a third of the passengers would have to be left quietly to drown for the want of any boat at all.

Our voyage so far has been very uneventful as to anything specially to be seen. I have no wonders of the deep to write about, and very few ships have been in company, some of the passengers have expressed considerable disappointment at tbis, and evidently consider that they have not been quite fairly treated in this respect, and have cause for complaint. There is some disappointment also caused by finding that we are not to call at the Cape of Good Hope, which many had a good hope of doing when they started, having, as they state, been so informed at the Company's office. These calls on the road serve to break very pleasantly the monotony of the voyage, but on leaving St. Vincent we had to face a four weeks' run for Hobart Town without anything of this kind to look forward to. The temperature rose steadily as we approached the Line, until two days before reaching it the weather was really hot, so that we had to adopt serious measures, such as deserting our cabins at night and sleeping in the saloon, or wherever the greatest amount of air could be obtained ; but fortunately for our comfort a cool head wind from the south met us at this point, which considerably lowered the temperature, so that we have not been since inconvenienced by the heat. The crossing was duly effected on Friday, the 21st, without any .accident, and although a sharp look-out was kept on deck by all the children, nothing was seen of it, but this was accounted for by the fact that the crossing was effected in the evening, and that it was quite dark at the time. We thought that possibly some of the lively spirits in the steerage would get up a procession or entertainment of some kind appropriate to the occasion, and there were different rumours to that effect, but beyond a considerable exhibition of high spirits the evening passed over quietly.

On Monday, the Ist of December, we were nearly due south of the Cape of Good Hope, distant about 200 miles, the weather still very fine, and the wind .abeam, so that we were able to carry all our canvas for nearly the first time since leaving; the wind, however, was still light, so that up to this we had no opportunity of seeing the best the vessel could do in a good breeze. Our course was now shaped in a south-easterly direction, until we reached 45 deg. South latitude, when we steered east for Hobart Town. We had now reached more A VOYAGE TO THE ANTIPODES.

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than half way, the weather having been so fine and moderate that even poor sailors among the passengers had not been inconvenienced. After this, however, the winds gradually freshened, until we had as much as we could comfortably do with, and the vessel was under full sail power. Under these conditions her best day's run has been 344 miles, but I understand that the engines have purposely been worked at a moderate speed only, it being considered unwise to drive them otherwise on the first voyage. It must also be borne in mind that our days now are only of 231 hours, as we lose half an hour each day through our course being nearly due East. The consumption of coal is very moderate, being only about fifty tons a day, which enables her to take a long run without calling anywhere.

On Saturday evening, the eighth of December, we had an accident which might have been serious had the vessel not been a good sea boat. At seven o'clock on that evening all was going well, there was a strong breeze blowing and all sail was set, but suddenly the vessel seemed to fly up into the wind and in another minute the sails were aback and thundering to get loose. It was a little time before it was known what was wrong, and then it was found that the steam steering gear had broken down, and also that the hand gear would not work. In five minutes the vessel was lying in the trough of the sea, for the time helpless, and rolling in a manner that rather astonished us. The first thing was to get some of the after canvas off her, so as to get her head round, and this was accomplished with some difficulty, all hands being engaged in taking in the mizen, but it was some time before this could be done, and the process was not assisted by one of the brails giving way. Then the fore yards were braced up and the main put aback and she lay pretty comfortably, not having shipped anything beyond a little spray, but sending some of the unfortunate passengers flying from side to side of the music room like nine pins, with her rolling. Of course there was a good deal of damage done among the crockery, and portmanteaus and light articles in our cabins were mixed up and distributed about the place in a way quite beyond our calculation, but excepting this and a few bruises no harm was done. It was three hours before the vessel could be put in her course again, being steered by hand from the poop deck, and it was not until the next evening that the steam steering gear could be put right and could be again connected.

After getting to the southward of the Cape it got rapidly colder and when we reached about 40 deg. south the wind being southerly and coming straight from the Antarctic regions, seemed enough to freeze us, the temperature during the day was not lower than 38 deg., but having so recently come through the tropics it seemed much colder and some invalids among our passengers felt it very keenly. This cold weather lasted about ten days when it gradually got warmer. This being the summer season in these parts such cold is rather exceptional at this time of the year.

On Sundays we have a service in the saloon in the morning conducted jointly by clergymen belonging to the Church of England and Presbyterian body. Services are also held during the day in the second saloon and among the emigrants, and on Wednesday evening there is usually a large service on the fore deck for the steerage passengers. There is often singing indulged in during the evening by the emigrants, who seem rather at a loss how to pass the time. I should have been glad to have had one or two of our largest sailors' libraries on board to give them a supply of books. It would be a good thing if we could extend our work in this direction so as to put a really good supply of books on board emigrant ships, as they need them even more than sailors having scarcely anything to do with their time. Perhaps our Committee will consider thi question.

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A VOYAGE TO THE ANTIPODES.

We ran down our “Easting" between latitude 45 and 46 south, and there were many speculations as to the day on which we should arrive at Hobart Town; at length it was known that it would in all probability be on Friday, the 19th, and accordingly all our interest centred on that date, the whole subject was discussed a fortnight before hand, each having their plan formed of what was to be done on reaching land again. At length the long wished for day arrived and through the morning all eyes were wistfully turned, from time to time, to the port bow where the first loom of the land was expected. The morning was somewhat cloudy and it was easy to imagine a coast line long before any could be seen, but at last, about noon, something a little darker than the low lying clouds could be indistinctly made out, and the word quickly went round the ship "Land in sight," during the afternoon this became more and more distinct and the outline of one rounded knoll after another came into view, as we gradually approached the southern coast of Tasmania. Towards dusk we rounded the south east Cape and headed for Hobart, but did not drop anchor until midnight. In the morning on reaching the deck a very pretty outlook greeted us. Hobart lies surrounded by a succession of low hills with one (Mount Wellington) of over four thousand feet immediately behind it. The town is on the shore of a beautiful harbour formed by the estuary of the Derwent, the surrounding hills making a circumference of perhaps fifty miles, the hills are mostly covered with timber and the whole made as pretty a picture as I have ever seen. The general character of the scenery is not unlike what is met with in the west highlands of Scotland.

The situation of the town is extremely well chosen, rising from the waters edge and completely covering one of the smaller hills and extending up the val. leys on either side. After breakfast we went on shore to make a closer inspection. The streets are wide and regular, the principal buildings of stone, there are some good shops and the general appearance of the town is that of a well-to-do English watering place. It seemed very strange that after a journey of 13,000 miles we should walk ashore into a town very like a bit of old England, but so it was, I think it gave some of our passengers the feeling that we were not so far from home after all as we had fancied. During the summer months (December to April) many visitors came to Hobart from Melbourne and Sydney to avoid the extreme heat and enjoy a cooler temperature. It seemed very strange to see large baskets of strawberries and cherries, at the fruiterers, in the month of December, but it did not take us long to discover that their quality was of the best. We took a drive out to the Botanical Gardens which are extensive and well arranged, and contained a large number of trees, flowers and shrubs, many of which were strange to us. The gardens are tastefully laid out on a slope rising from the water's-edge In the outskirts of the town many of the houses are surrounded by pretty gardens in which our English flowers seemed to grow luxuriantly, there were great banks of geraniums and fuchsias, and lilies everywhere.

By seven in the evening we had sufficiently replenished our supply of coal for the passage to New Zealand and were once more under weigh. Our course lay about fifteen or twenty miles down the estuary of the Derwent before we reached the open sea, the scenery on either bank being very similar in character to that around Hobart. Two days more steaming, with a fair breeze and quiet sea, brought us in sight of the New Zealand coast and on the morning of the twentythird we made out the high land at the south west cape and during the whole day had the coast in view, in the afternoon we passed through the straits between Stewart island and the mainland with the bluff on the port side. The next morning at seven o'clock, we were close in to land at the Heads, at the entrance to

the harbour of Port Chalmers, there is a bar at the entrance and it had been a matter of speculation all through the voyage whether our vessel, drawing twentytwo feet, would be able to cross this as otherwise she would have to proceed on to Port Littleton, but fortunately for our convenience this was quickly accomplished within ten minutes of the pilot coming on board, and without our touching The entrance is narrow and circuitous but on passing this a fine spacious harbour is seen with Port Chalmers at the head, a pretty little town built on the slope of the hills, with other lofty hills surrounding it on all sides, the harbour runs up to Dunedin but is at present only available, so far, for vessels not exceeding eighteen feet draft of water. We all left the “Arawa” with great regret after our long but very pleasant voyage, and so here ends my tale.

A. SCRUTTON. Dunedin, Jan. 3rd, 1885.

DISTRESS SIGNALS! WHAT a volume might be written on such a subject as this ! Well do I remember when a boy, of a night on the coal-laden barque “Henrietta,” which shortly afterwards foundered in mid-Atlantic. We were caught with a whole fleet of vessels in a gale of wind right on the land off Orfordness. As the sun went down, which it seemed to do shortly after dinner on that terrible winter's day, there were many fears on board that doomed fleet of ships. Vessel after vessel let go anchor with the hope of riding out the gale. Some parted their chains immediately, others began to ride out the long, long pight. Waves came in like mountains, and before our old craft could rise to them they swept over, sending their spray over the topsail yards. Though she took water in, over all and through all, yet her splendid anchors and chains would sink her or drag her bows out rather than break or give! Yet every pitch the chain seemed to grind round that old windlass, dragged up from a hatchway right aft. The men were at the pumps all night. Havoc was made among the shipping. Few could ride out the gale. About three in the morning a “distress signal ” went up. I hear it and feel it now. How long it was before the morning came! Good distress

SOCKET AND SIGNAL READY TO FIRE signals will attract attention, bring the lifeboat, and to poor castaways save from starvation, cannibalism, with all the dread horrors unmentionable, by attracting passing ships. To have a signal always ready for the moment of sudden emergency and danger is no small comfort. Every ship should be thus armed. To handle powder and guns by the inexperienced in the darkness and difficulties of night, with a ship in immediate danger, is indeed both dangerous and uncertain. Here (see advertisement) the PATENT SOCKET DISTRESS SIGNALS, manufactured by the Cotton Powder Company, Limited, step in with socket and signal ready to fire.

We shun gunpowder as we do deadly poison, because perhaps it is associated 152

A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED.

with destruction. On a tour of inspection through Woolwich Arsenal everything looked and smelt like ghastly war, revolting war. Our guide brought us to a life-saving apparatus, and remarked, “ This is the solitary emblem of peace in the whole of this establishment.” Right glad are we, therefore, when this terrible explosive force can be used as in these distress signals to save life. It can be fixed on the deck, in the rail, or carried in the boat. Another important feature is their recent adoption for use in ship's boats to enable crews or passengers to attract the attention of passing vessels in cases where it may become necessary to take to the boats. The numerous instances of failure to attract attention in cases of shipwreck, and notably the case of the boats of the steamer “ American,” which foundered in mid-ocean, in April, 1880; and the “Kenmure Castle,” in February, 1883; when, through inability to attract the attention of vessels passing in sight in open day, they were exposed to the risk of not being picked up, form sufficient grounds for bringing the Socket Distress Signal before the notice of shipowners. The time has come when sailors' lives should be considered as valuable as the lives of passengers. By Act of Parliament if the vessel has but one passenger on board she is bound to carry distress signals. But ought not every ship to carry signals, so hapdy, so safe, so cheap as the “Patent Socket Signals" ? They ought soon to be universally recognised by the Mercantile Navies of the world. Our Admiralty might do worse than order them for all their ships and stations.

"A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED;'

OR, THE STORY OF THE BATH PUBLIC-HOUSE MISSION. A MUSTARD seed—how small and unimportant it appears! How wonderful that any germ of life should be contained within that dry tiny envelope! Yet our Lord Himself tells us that when it is grown it becomes a great tree. So it is with many things in the world. Small and weak in their beginning, yet, if life is within them, a breath from the Spirit of God, who can tell what may be the increase thereof? So it was with the Bath public-house mission. The “grain of mustard seed” in this case was a “Friendly letter addressed to barmaids," sent round with Christmas cards and texts to each of the 248 public-houses, addressed “to the young lady waitress.” Two only returned any answer; one saying "they had lived so many years in Bath, and no one had cared for their souls, that they thought they might as well have done with religion altogether!" Yet our Lord says, with regard to the living seed, “Except it die it abideth alone.” And so it was with these letters. They were not all lost, but were silently working underground in many hearts, until the time should come for them to bring forth fruit. The thought, also, of the rejected letter from the girls, for whose souls no man had cared, sunk deep into the heart of the lady who had sent them, and she longed to do something for them. On New Year's Eve, when on her knees before God alone, she was thinking of the way in which He had guided her during the past year, and, commending her “Friendly letter mission” to Him for the future, a thought struck her, “Pray for a missionary to visit the public-houses.” So she prayed, though she knew no one who could do the work, and had no money on hand for such a mission. But God knew. In another part of the city a Christian man, unknown to her, was on his knees, and his prayer was this, “Here am I, Lord, send me to visit public-houses." A few days after the barmaid's letter was inserted in one of the town papers, and help asked to start such a mission. This was noticed by the would-be missionary, who at once came and offered himself for the work. “I dared not refuse," said the lady afterwards, “though no one had sent a penny to begin the work, for the whole thing seemed so of God