29th Dec 1831

Devonport to Canary Islands
At noon we were 380 miles from Plymouth the remaining distance to Madeira being 800 miles. We are in the Bay of Biscay and there is a good deal of swell on the sea. I have felt a good deal nausea several times in the day. There is one great difference between my former sea sickness and the present; absence of giddiness: using my eyes is not unpleasant: indeed it is rather amusing, whilst lying in my hammock to watch the moon or stars performing their small revolutions in their new apparent orbits.

I will now give all the dear bought experience I have gained about sea-sickness. In first place the misery is excessive and far exceeds what a person would suppose who had never been at sea more than a few days. I found the only relief to be in a horizontal position: but that it must never be forgotten the more you combat with the enemy the sooner will he yield. I found in the only thing my stomach would bear was biscuit and raisins: but of this as I became more exhausted I soon grew tired and then the sovereign remedy is Sago, with wine and spice and made very hot. But the only sure thing is lying down, and if in a hammock so much the better.

The evenings already are perceptibly longer and weather much milder.

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