As I sailed before a light wind
the island receded slowly, and on the following day I could still see
the Puce Mountain near Moka. The _Spray_ arrived next day off Galets,
Reunion, and a pilot came out and spoke her. I handed him a Mauritius
paper and continued on my voyage; for rollers were running heavily at
the time, and it was not practicable to make a landing. From Reunion I
shaped a course direct for Cape St. Mary, Madagascar.
The sloop was now drawing near the limits of the trade-wind, and the
strong breeze that had carried her with free sheets the many thousands
of miles from Sandy Cape, Australia, fell lighter each day until
October 30, when it was altogether calm, and a motionless sea held her
in a hushed world. I furled the sails at evening, sat down on deck,
and enjoyed the vast stillness of the night.
October 31 a light east-northeast breeze sprang up, and the sloop
passed Cape St. Mary about noon. On the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of
November, in the Mozambique Channel, she experienced a hard gale of
wind from the southwest. Here the _Spray_ suffered as much as she did
anywhere, except off Cape Horn. The thunder and lightning preceding
this gale were very heavy. From this point until the sloop arrived off
the coast of Africa, she encountered a succession of gales of wind,
which drove her about in many directions, but on the 17th of November
she arrived at Port Natal.
This delightful place is the commercial center of the "Garden Colony,"
Durban itself, the city, being the continuation of a garden.
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