LET. ¥.] : MADEIRA, 4
and are to remain bere till Thursday. Frank is gone to the consul to get a passport, and inquire about 2 ship to take him home, Weare grown pretty well used to the life on board ship. Byerybody is good-natured and civil. Captain Fautkner is our chief erony,, but we are ali good friends. I am beginning greatly to enjoy some parts of our sea-life, especially the bright blue water, and the brisht yellow moonlight,—such colours a8 00 sheregoing people ever saw.
August 25th.—Madeira is very lively, very like Lucca: the country, and the heat, and the people, are Italy over again. We have just been te visit a convent here. There is not much to be secn. The nuns spoke to us through a danble grating and sold us fowers. Nobody is allowed to see the inside of the convent. They spoke nothing but Portuguese, They came to me, chirping, and asking me to talk to them, and to tell them something ; but, unluckily, though I could understand what they said to me, I could not answer a word; so we were obliged to be content with nodding and bobbing, and looking friendly at each other. We have taken somie feankl vides and gathered nosegays of wild flowers—heliotropes, roses, fuchsias, and every variety of geraniums, To-night we go on board again, leaving Frank here to find his way home by the first ship. We shall be very anxions to hear his adventures: Iam afraid he may he obliged to go round by Lisbon, for no English ship is expected just at present. The Captain has sent his smmmons for us, so I must say “ Good-bye.”
