THE ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY. II. "The air is cut away before, And closes from behind."-COLERIDGE. WITHIN the pipe described in a former article is a piston, with a rod fourteen or fifteen feet in length, to which are attached rollers for opening the air-tight valve at the rear of the piston, not in front, as it advances along the pipe. A "coulter" connects the piston to the driving car, as the first carriage is called; and to this car is connected a copper vessel several feet in length, heated with coke, for the purpose of melting the wax when the valve has been pressed down by the apparatus for that purpose (see fig. 1). The reader is requested to bear in mind that the moving force depends upon the difference of pressure before and behind the piston. So long as these two forces are in equilibrium, they counterbalance each other; and there is no propulsive power. But disturb this equilibrium, destroy this balance of power, and we at once call into action an existing, but hitherto dormant force, varying in amount with the extent to which the equilibrium has been destroyed. When, therefore, the vacuum-pump has exhausted the air in front of the piston to the extent of 15 inches by the mercurial gauge, there is a pressure in front of half an atmosphere, say 7 lbs. to the square inch; but the pressure behind has not been disturbed; it is still a whole atmosphere, say 15 lbs. to the square inch; the propulsive force is con sequently the difference between these, or 7 lbs. to the Transverse section of the Vacuum Pipe, with the valves open. inch. If the exhaustion in front is carried to 25 inches, the remaining pressure is 5 inches; and the difference, 20 inches, indicates a propelling power of two-thirds of an atmosphere, or 10 lbs. on each square inch of the piston, being half a pound for each inch of exhaustion shown by the mercurial vacuum gauge. Now the sectional area of a circular piston, 15 inches in diameter, is about 176 inches. When, therefore, a vacuum has been produced of 10 inches, or a third of an atmosphere, there is a power of 880 lbs. ; a vacuum of 15 inches gives 1320 lbs.; and a vacuum of 20 inches (which is readily attained) gives 1760 lbs.; and it is considered that the average traction power of a locomo tive is about 1000 lbs. We may remark, that as the area of a circle is in proportion to the square of the diameter, a pipe of 7 inches in width would have a force equal to one-fourth that of a pipe 15 inches wide; a pipe of 5 inches would be only one-ninth, and so in proportion. We have assumed the weight of the atmosphere at 30 inches, as shown by the common barometer, and the pressure at 15 lbs. to the square inch. These amounts, though not strictly accurate, are sufficiently so for our purpose. On some very fine day, when the barometer stands at 30 inches, (all barometers are thus graduated,) should the piston be loaded to the full extent of its traction power, and the weather changing very suddenly, the barometer should fall to 28 inches, (which is a possible, though quite improbable event,) the power of the piston would be forthwith lessened one-fifteenth. The pressure in front continues the same, but the hind force, the weight of the atmosphere as shown by the barometer, is two inches, or one-fifteenth, less than it was. We introduce this simply as an illustration of the principle of action, not as an event that will actually occur though from time to time the variation in the weight of the atmospheric column, and consequently in the pressure on the piston, is greater than that we have named. It will now be seen, that in the atmospheric railway the traction power depends on the sectional area of the pipe, and the amount of vacuum or rarefaction. The speed will be in proportion to the rapidity with which the air in front of the progressing piston can be drawn A The air-tight valve. B The weather valve. D The connecting arm or coulter. E Part of the driving carriage. F Roller to open the weather valve. To prevent confusion, the rollers for opening the airtight valve are not shown in this drawing; they may be seen in the longitudinal section placed at the head of the previous paper; in which the piston A is seen travelling in the direction of the arrow. As it advances the two small rollers B B lift up the air-tight valve, which, when the coulter F has passed, is allowed gradually to fall into the groove again, by the corresponding rollers cc, and is firmly pressed down into its right position by the upper roller D. The long heater E follows, and melting the wax (shown at c, in fig. 2), re-seals the pipe; F is the connecting arm or coulter; and G is the weight to counterbalance the piston. Between the carriage wheels is shown the seat for the conductor. (The roller for opening the weather valve will be seen in fig. 3.) The pipe at the higher end is connected with a large air pump, worked by a stationary engine at Dalkey, for the purpose of exhausting, or more correctly, partially exhausting, this pipe, and thereby causing, as we have before explained, a pressure at the opposite end. This pump is about 5 feet in diameter, or nearly twenty times the sectional area of the pipe: the length of the stroke is also about 5 feet, and when working it moves at the rate of 240 feet per minute. It is double-acting. Now the carriages being attached to the piston at Kingstown, and the air being pumped out of the tube, it is clear, that if the pressure is sufficiently great on the piston, the driving carriage must go forward. The train moves-the driving car, or piston carriage, opens the sealed valve the apparatus for this purpose again presses the valve into its proper channel-the heater follows and seals it up-the engine continues to work the air pump, to maintain the partial vacuum-the train arrives at its destination-and the pipe is ready sealed for a repetition of the same process. The return voyage is to be performed without any power save that of gravitation. The carriages are to convey themselves down the line, and also the piston, which not being needed in the descending journey, is placed outside, as horses are sometimes taught to mount a low truck when their power is not wanted. This contrivance also saves a needless working of the valves. On such an incline, (an average of 1 in 115, in some parts much steeper,) this will be easily effected, at a rate probably of 20 to 30 miles an hour. The writer of this article was, some time since, on a line of railway, which, though not designed for passengers, was in very good condition; and wishing to proceed four or five miles down an incline, much less steep than the Dalkey Railway, an empty waggon was attached to two loaded ones; they started, the motion was very easy, and as he stood on the waggon he found, very unexpectedly, that they had attained a speed of more than 30 miles an hour: Standing on an open truck, this was an unwarrantably dangerous rate, which he would not knowingly have attained. To this description of the Atmospheric Railway we will add a few words relative to its history and progress. The first suggestion of such a mode of transit is attributed to Papin more than a century since. In recent times have followed Lewis, Vallance, Medhurst, Pinkus, and lastly, Clegg and Samuda. Professor Vignoles states, in 1842, that it was "Medhurst who, about thirty years since, first gave to the world the right idea of connecting the body in the pipe or tube, directly acted upon by the atmospheric power, with a carriage moving along exteriorly." He published several pamphlets on the subject, which did not attract much attention. AN ACCOUNT OF THE DRUNKEN SEA. BY JAMES HENRY, M. D., FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF PHY- NOTHING can exceed the beauty of the Drunken Sea from close upon left Soberland. porter hogsheads, or wine pipes, or spirit puncheons. It is The voyage is usually performed in boats made out of astonishing what excellent sailing boats these vessels make, when divided longitudinally, and furnished with sails and oars. Riches having the advantage every where, upon the Drunken Sea as well as upon land, the boats which are used by the rich are much more elegant, easy, and commodious, although, perhaps, not faster sailers than those which tolls payable by all persons who sail upon the Drunken are used by the poor. Besides the fares there are certain Sea. These tolls are so considerable as to form a principal part of the revenues of some of the imperial governments of Soberland. Notwithstanding the expense which is thus necessarily attendant upon sailing on the Drunken Sea, the number of persons, rich and poor, who sail upon it exceeds all calculation; the rich paying the expense out of their superfluities, the poor out of their necessaries. Some, however, insist that in the end the poor bear the whole expense, and pay out of their necessaries for the rich man's voyage as well as their own. Mr. Vallance took out a patent, we believe, in 1824, and he constructed a pneumatic tunnel at Brighton, of about two hundred yards long, for experimental purposes, of sufficient capacity to contain a passenger carriage. In 1834 Mr. Pinkus took out a patent, adopting the small tube suggested by Mr. Medhurst, and proposing to cover the aperture in the pipe with a rope. This plan, The voyage to Point Just-Enough becomes more and as we have stated, was not found sufficiently air-tight. more agreeable the nearer you approach the Point. The Lastly came Mr. Clegg, who, still adopting Med-air becomes still more soft and balmy, the blue of the sky hurst's small tube, patented the beautifully simple and water still more delicious, and even the sombre objects apparatus which is the subject of these papers; and of Soberland, now somewhat in the distance, seem to acquire which is said to be quite calculated to endure the rough a certain mellowness and splendour from the new medium usage necessarily attendant on so rapid motion. through which they are seen. In the meantime a corresponding change takes place in the passengers themselves; they experience an agreeable sensation of warmth, commencing at the pit of the stomach and gradually extending and stronger; their breath acquires an agreeable odour, not from thence over the whole body; their pulse beats quicker unlike that of the sea on which they sail; their eyes become brighter and softer, and sometimes even seem to sparkle; their cheeks flush a little; their hands are sensibly warmer to the touch; their looks and gestures become animated; they feel increased strength and courage and readiness for action; their ideas succeed each other with great rapidity and vivacity, and are a little less obedient to the will; they become less careful and anxious, less precise and particular; regard themselves with more complacence, their neighbours with more charity; gentlemen become less solicitous about the set of their cravats; ladies, of their caps and collars: all become less serious; less disposed to deliberate; less scrupulous about right and wrong; less tight-laced; not so inclined to prayer, or any other solemn religious duty; less lous; more inclined to singing, jesting, and light conververy sober; more gay, good-humoured, frolicsome, frivosation; more voluble, energetic, eloquent; more ready to tell secrets, either of their own or their neighbours; more inclined to quarrel suddenly. The half mile of experimental line erected on this principle, at the expense of the patentees, on the West London Railway, had been exhibited for many months without attracting much attention, when it was seen by James Pim, Jun., Esq., the Treasurer of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, who at once warmly espoused the cause of the patentees, and addressed a letter to the President of the Board of Trade, urging the railway department of that board to institute due inquiry into this new application of the atmospheric pressure. He says, "This claim is not made lightly, nor without a suitable feeling of responsibility: it has resulted from a careful and prolonged investigation, and from repeated experiments on the West London Railway, in which I have been assisted by many of the most distinguished men of science, and by several eminent practical engineers; whose concurrent opinions have led me to such a perfect conviction of the importance of the subject, as to induce this application." He was successful; and the commmissioners' report was so far satisfactory, that, as we have stated, Governnent consented to advance the money. We should not omit to add, that the electric telegraph, by which signals can be transmitted with the speed of light itself, is to be a companion of the atmospheric railway. Several distinguished foreigners have visited Kingstown; and M. Mallet, who was appointed by the French Government to visit the Dalkey line, has presented a report to the Minister of Public Works, recommending the government to construct a line of several miles in length, so as to require three or four stationary engines, for the purpose of testing the value of the invention, as he considers the future prospects of railways in France greatly concerned in the question. which they give of their passage across Pleasant Bay, and of All voyagers to Point Just-Enough agree in the account Point; but they disagree very much in their statements the agreeable sensations experienced on approaching the respecting the Point itself; some say that it is further off, others that it is nearer; some that it lies more to the north, others more to the east; many assert that it recedes as you approach it, while some maintain that it moves forward, and comes to meet you before you have more than half crossed Pleasant Bay. These conflicting statements may, perhaps, be reconciled on the supposition, which seems far from unreasonable, that Point Just-Enough is situated in a floating island, which, shifting its position from time tɔ time, is sometimes nearer, sometimes more distant; sometimes a little more to the north, and at other times a little more to the east. However this may be, the visitors to Point Just-Enough all agree in stating that it is quite impossible either to come to anchor off it, or to effect a landing upon it; the water being so deep that no anchor will take the ground, and the current so rapid as to carry you past the Point before you can secure a boat to it by any grapples which have yet been invented. For these reasons all skilful sailors, the moment they arrive at Point Just-Enough, instead of vainly attempting to come to anchor or to land, tack about and steer back again across Pleasant Bay for Soberland, thus avoiding the danger of being carried by the force of the current further on into the Drunken Sea, and perhaps thrown upon an island called Tipsy Island, lying at no great distance to the leeward. The great unwillingness with which all the visitors to Point Just-Enough allow the sailors to tack about and steer | homewards, has given rise to an opinion that if a landing upon the Point were practicable, every visitor would settle there permanently, and bid an eternal farewell to Sober land. The voyage homewards from Point Just-Enough is much less agreeable than the voyage outwards; the air gradually loses its balminess, and the landscape its brilliant colours; the current and wind, too, although gentle, yet being against you, make it necessary to tack, and thus render the passage tedious. There are few who do not experience as they return some diuretic effect, as well as a slight degree of thirst, the latter of which continues after landing, and even until bed-time, unless removed by tea or coffee. The night's sleep is less soft and refreshing, but at the same time heavier than if no visit had been paid to the Point in the day; and on awaking the next morning, a degree of languor is experienced, and sometimes even a little throbbing at the temples, which symptoms, however, disappear either during the making of the toilette or soon after breakfast, and are succeeded by a strong desire for another voyage to Point Just-Enough. This desire being gratified with as little delay as possible, the same sensations are experienced, and the same consequences ensue, and thus a habit is formed which increases in strength, until at last a daily visit to Point Just-Enough comes to be considered almost as a necessary of life. Pleasant Bay is therefore covered from early morning until a late hour at night with boats conveying passengers of all ranks and descriptions to Point Just-Enough and back again. The intercourse is however by far the greatest from dinner-hour until tea-time, the evening being generally considered the most fashionable as well as the most convenient and agreeable time for the voyage. Some dine before they set out, but the greater number take their dinner on board. Among the visitors to Point Just-Enough there are a few who go very irregularly and at long intervals, others who go only every second or third day, and some only on the Sabbath day; but the great majority, unless prevented by illness, go every day of the year at the same hour, and never allow either business or pleasure, or even bankruptcy or insolvency, or trouble or the death of friends or relatives, to interrupt the regularity of their daily sail across Pleasant Bay. Kings and queens, lords and ladies, knights and members of imperial legislatures, professors of all arts and sciences, merchants, traders, artisans, and even those who subsist upon charity, are to be found among the daily visitors to Point Just-Enough; the Christian, the Jew and the pagan; the white, the black and the olive; the democrat, leveller and aristocrat; the busy as well as the idle, the wise as well as the foolish, the learned as well as the ignorant, the grave as well as the gay, the young as well as the old. Parents bring their children with them, and teach them to navigate the Drunken Sea, as birds teach their young to fly. Employers bring their workmen, and masters their servants; the latter however require but little teaching, having generally had the advantage of an early apprenticeship to the art. It is worthy of remark, that of the countless multitudes who daily sail upon Pleasant Bay, there is not one who can be persuaded that it forms a part of the Drunken Sea. It is also remarkable, that every one of those who make a daily practice of sailing upon this bay, acquires an invincible dread of water, and cannot be prevailed upon to drink it unless when sick. It has been observed besides, that with the exception of man, all animals have an antipathy to the Drunken Sea, and cannot, without great difficulty, be persuaded to navigate even that part of it called Pleasant Bay. From this fact some naturalists have deduced a distinctive character of man, and instead of describing him as an animal, erect, biped, rational, with teeth intermediate between gramivorous and carnivorous, define him simply, an animal which sails upon the Drunken Sea. The longitude and latitude of Point Just-Enough never having been exactly ascertained, either from its being situated, as already mentioned, in a floating island, or whatever other cause, geographers have found it very difficult to assign the precise limits of Pleasant Bay. It is, perhaps, to get rid of this difficulty, that some geographers describe Pleasant Bay as extending the whole way from Soberland to Tipsy Island. But whether it be or be not geographically correct to apply the name of Pleasant Bay to that part of the Drunken Sea which lies between Point JustEnough and Tipsy Island, it is quite certain that there is no part of this sea where the sky is so bright, the air so fresh and exhilarating, or the motion of the water so lively and buoyant as it is here. It happens, therefore, as might be expected, that many of those who leave Soberland, with the intention of going no further than Point Just-Enough, do yet, when they arrive at that point, extend their voyage to Tipsy Island, tempted by the increasing beauty of the scene, the favouring wind and current, and the easy landing which the shore of the island presents at no great distance. Besides those who thus voluntarily extend their voyage from Point Just-Enough to Tipsy Island, there are others who, over-shooting the Point either through ignorance or inadvertence, miss stays in their attempt to tack, and are carried to the island by the force of the wind and current. As it generally happens that those who have once visited Tipsy Island in either of the ways just mentioned, soon return to it again, direct from Soberland, and repeat their visits with great regularity during the remainder of their lives, Tipsy Island is always full of visitors. The sensations experienced on this island differ only in degree from those which are felt at Point Just-Enough. The pulse and heart beat a little quicker and stronger, the eyes become brighter, the skin hotter, the face more flushed, the voice louder, the gestures more vehement, the conversation less connected, the ideas rambling and incoherent. Some dance, some sing, some swear, some fight, all stagger about; some become loyal, others patriotic, some poetical, others philosophical; all are veracious, disinterested, magnanimous, chivalrous. It is usual to remain several hours, and even to pass the night upon the island. A few remain upon it for several days together; but as it is considered discreditable to be seen upon it in the morning, those who regard appearances usually leave for Soberland some time before day-break; many fall asleep on the island, and are carried in that state to their boats. In the morning all awake unrefreshed, with a parched mouth, hot skin, red eyes, aching head, and no appetite for breakfast, and spend the day drinking soda water at the great fountain on the quay of Soberland, which looks towards Pleasant Bay, and longing for evening in order to return to Tipsy Island, or at least as far as Point Just-Enough. Tipsy Island is said to have been first discovered by Noah, who planted vines upon it. It was afterwards sacred to Bacchus, whose temple, situated about the middle of the island, is in a high state of preservation. It has been visited by Alexander the Great, and most of the illustrous men both of ancient and modern times, the names of many of whom are to be seen, carved with their own hands, upon the bark of the vines. Its daily visitors sing a song which runs nearly as follows: The Sea, the Sea, the Drunken Sea; The blue, the fresh, the ever free, the ever free. It runneth the earth's wide regions round: Or like a cradled monster lies. I'm on the sea, the Drunken Sea; I am where I would ever be, With heaven above, and hell below, If a storm should come, and awake the deep, which not being needed in the descending journey, is placed outside, as horses are sometimes taught to mount a low truck when their power is not wanted. This contrivance also saves a needless working of the valves. On such an incline, (an average of 1 in 115, in some parts much steeper,) this will be easily effected, at a rate probably of 20 to 30 miles an hour. The writer of this article was, some time since, on a line of railway, which, though not designed for passengers, was in very good condition; and wishing to proceed four or five miles down an incline, much less steep than the Dalkey Railway, an empty waggon was attached to two loaded ones; they started, the motion was very easy, and as he stood on the waggon he found, very unexpectedly, that they had attained a speed of more than 30 miles an hour: Standing on an open truck, this was an unwarrantably dangerous rate, which he would not knowingly have attained. To this description of the Atmospheric Railway we will add a few words relative to its history and progress. The first suggestion of such a mode of transit is attributed to Papin more than a century since. In recent times have followed Lewis, Vallance, Medhurst, Pinkus, and lastly, Clegg and Samuda. Professor Vignoles states, in 1842, that it was "Medhurst who, about thirty years since, first gave to the world the right idea of connecting the body in the pipe or tube, directly acted upon by the atmospheric power, with a carriage moving along exteriorly." He published several pamphlets on the subject, which did not attract much attention. Mr. Vallance took out a patent, we believe, in 1824, and he constructed a pneumatic tunnel at Brighton, of about two hundred yards long, for experimental purposes, o sufficient capacity to contain a passenger carriage. AN ACCOUNT OF THE DRUNKEN SEA. BY JAMES HENRY, M.D., FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF PHY- NOTHING can exceed the beauty of the Drunken Sea from left Soberland. The voyage is usually performed in boats made out of porter hogsheads, or wine pipes, or spirit puncheons. It is astonishing what excellent sailing boats these vessels make, when divided longitudinally, and furnished with sails and oars. Riches having the advantage every where, upon the Drunken Sea as well as upon land, the boats which are used by the rich are much more elegant, easy, and commodious, although, perhaps, not faster sailers than those which tolls payable by all persons who sail upon the Drunken are used by the poor. Besides the fares there are certain Sea. These tolls are so considerable as to form a principal part of the revenues of some of the imperial governments of necessarily attendant upon sailing on the Drunken Sea, the Soberland. Notwithstanding the expense which is thus number of persons, rich and poor, who sail upon it exceeds all calculation; the rich paying the expense out of their superfluities, the poor out of their necessaries. Some, however, insist that in the end the poor bear the whole expense, and pay out of their necessaries for the rich man's voyage as well as their own. In 1834 Mr. Pinkus took out a patent, adopting the small tube suggested by Mr. Medhurst, and proposing to cover the aperture in the pipe with a rope. This plan, as we have stated, was not found sufficiently air-tight. The voyage to Point Just-Enough becomes more and Lastly came Mr. Clegg, who, still adopting Med-air becomes still more soft and balmy, the blue of the sky more agreeable the nearer you approach the Point. The hurst's small tube, patented the beautifully simple and water still more delicious, and even the sombre objects apparatus which is the subject of these papers; and of Soberland, now somewhat in the distance, seem to acquire which is said to be quite calculated to endure the rough a certain mellowness and splendour from the new medium usage necessarily attendant on so rapid motion. through which they are seen. In the meantime a corresponding change takes place in the passengers themselves; they experience an agreeable sensation of warmth, commencing at the pit of the stomach and gradually extending from thence over the whole body; their pulse beats quicker and stronger; their breath acquires an agreeable odour, not unlike that of the sea on which they sail; their eyes become brighter and softer, and sometimes even seem to sparkle; their cheeks flush a little; their hands are sensibly warmer to the touch; their looks and gestures become animated; they feel increased strength and courage and readiness for action; their ideas succeed each other with great rapidity and vivacity, and are a little less obedient to the will; they become less careful and anxious, less precise and particular; regard themselves with more complacence, their neighbours with more charity; gentlemen become less solicitous about the set of their cravats; ladies, of their caps and collars: all become less serious; less disposed to deliberate; less inclined to prayer, or any other solemn religious duty; less very sober; more gay, good-humoured, frolicsome, frivoscrupulous about right and wrong; less tight-laced; not so lous; more inclined to singing, jesting, and light conversation; more voluble, energetic, eloquent; more ready to tell secrets, either of their own or their neighbours; more inclined to quarrel suddenly. The half mile of experimental line erected on this principle, at the expense of the patentees, on the West London Railway, had been exhibited for many months without attracting much attention, when it was seen by James Pim, Jun., Esq., the Treasurer of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, who at once warmly espoused the cause of the patentees, and addressed a letter to the President of the Board of Trade, urging the railway department of that board to institute due inquiry into this new application of the atmospheric pressure. He says, "This claim is not made lightly, nor without a suitable feeling of responsibility: it has resulted from a careful and prolonged investigation, and from repeated experiments on the West London Railway, in which I have been assisted by many of the most distinguished men of science, and by several eminent practical engineers; whose concurrent opinions have led me to such a perfect conviction of the importance of the subject, as to induce this application." He was successful; and the commmissioners' report was so far satisfactory, that, as we have stated, Governnent consented to advance the money. We should not omit to add, that the electric telegraph, by which signals can be transmitted with the speed of light itself, is to be a companion of the atmospheric railway. Several distinguished foreigners have visited Kingstown; and M. Mallet, who was appointed by the French Government to visit the Dalkey line, has presented a report to the Minister of Public Works, recommending the government to construct a line of several miles in length, so as to require three or four stationary engines, for the purpose of testing the value of the invention, as he considers the future prospects of railways in France greatly concerned in the question. which they give of their passage across Pleasant Bay, and of All voyagers to Point Just-Enough agree in the account Point; but they disagree very much in their statements the agreeable sensations experienced on approaching the respecting the Point itself; some say that it is further off, others that it is nearer; some that it lies more to the north, others more to the east; many assert that it recedes as you approach it, while some maintain that it moves forward, and comes to meet you before you have more than half crossed Pleasant Bay. These conflicting statements may perhaps, be reconciled on the supposition, which seems far from unreasonable, that Point Just-Enough is situated in a floating island, which, shifting its position from time tọ time, is sometimes nearer, sometimes more distant; sometimes a little more to the north, and at other times a little more to the east. However this may be, the visitors to Point Just-Enough all agree in stating that it is quite impossible either to come to anchor off it, or to effect a landing upon it; the water being so deep that no anchor will take the ground, and the current so rapid as to carry you past the Point before you can secure a boat to it by any grapples which have yet been invented. For these reasons all skilful sailors, the moment they arrive at Point Just-Enough, instead of vainly attempting to come to anchor or to land, tack about and steer back again across Pleasant Bay for Soberland, thus avoiding the danger of being carried by the force of the current further on into the Drunken Sea, and perhaps thrown upon an island called Tipsy Island, lying at no great distance to the leeward. The great unwillingness with which all the visitors to Point Just-Enough allow the sailors to tack about and steer homewards, has given rise to an opinion that if a landing upon the Point were practicable, every visitor would settle there permanently, and bid an eternal farewell to Soberland. The voyage homewards from Point Just-Enough is much less agreeable than the voyage outwards; the air gradually loses its balminess, and the landscape its brilliant colours; the current and wind, too, although gentle, yet being against you, make it necessary to tack, and thus render the passage tedious. There are few who do not experience as they return some diuretic effect, as well as a slight degree of thirst, the latter of which continues after landing, and even until bed-time, unless removed by tea or coffee. The night's sleep is less soft and refreshing, but at the same time heavier than if no visit had been paid to the Point in the day; and on awaking the next morning, a degree of languor is experienced, and sometimes even a little throbbing at the temples, which symptoms, however, disappear either during the making of the toilette or soon after breakfast, and are succeeded by a strong desire for another voyage to Point Just-Enough. This desire being gratified with as little delay as possible, the same sensations are experienced, and the same consequences ensue, and thus a habit is formed which increases in strength, until at last a daily visit to Point Just-Enough comes to be considered almost as a necessary of life. Pleasant Bay is therefore covered from early morning until a late hour at night with boats conveying passengers of all ranks and descriptions to Point Just-Enough and back again. The intercourse is however by far the greatest from dinner-hour until tea-time, the evening being generally considered the most fashionable as well as the most convenient and agreeable time for the voyage. Some dine before they set out, but the greater number take their dinner on board. Among the visitors to Point Just-Enough there are a few who go very irregularly and at long intervals, others who go only every second or third day, and some only on the Sabbath day; but the great majority, unless prevented by illness, go every day of the year at the same hour, and never allow either business or pleasure, or even bankruptcy or insolvency, or trouble or the death of friends or relatives, to interrupt the regularity of their daily sail across Pleasant Bay. Kings and queens, lords and ladies, knights and members of imperial legislatures, professors of all arts and sciences, merchants, traders, artisans, and even those who subsist upon charity, are to be found among the daily visitors to Point Just-Enough; the Christian, the Jew and the pagan; the white, the black and the olive; the democrat, leveller and aristocrat; the busy as well as the idle, the wise as well as the foolish, the learned as well as the ignorant, the grave as well as the gay, the young as well as the old. Parents bring their children with them, and teach them to navigate the Drunken Sea, as birds teach their young to fly. Employers bring their workmen, and masters their servants; the latter however require but little teaching, having generally had the advantage of an early apprenticeship to the art. It is worthy of remark, that of the countless multitudes who daily sail upon Pleasant Bay, there is not one who can be persuaded that it forms a part of the Drunken Sea. It is also remarkable, that every one of those who make a daily practice of sailing upon this bay, acquires an invincible dread of water, and cannot be prevailed upon to drink it unless when sick. It has been observed besides, that with the exception of man, all animals have an antipathy to the Drunken Sea, and cannot, without great difficulty, be persuaded to navigate even that part of it called Pleasant Bay. From this fact some naturalists have deduced a distinctive character of man, and instead of describing him as an animal, erect, biped, rational, with teeth intermediate between gramivorous and carnivorous, define him simply, an animal which sails upon the Drunken Sea. The longitude and latitude of Point Just-Enough never having been exactly ascertained, either from its being situated, as already mentioned, in a floating island, or whatever other cause, geographers have found it very difficult to assign the precise limits of Pleasant Bay. It is, perhaps, to get rid of this difficulty, that some geographers describe Pleasant Bay as extending the whole way from Soberland to Tipsy Island. But whether it be or be not geographically correct to apply the name of Pleasant Bay to that part of the Drunken Sea which lies between Point JustEnough and Tipsy Island, it is quite certain that there is no part of this sea where the sky is so bright, the air so fresh and exhilarating, or the motion of the water so lively and buoyant as it is here. It happens, therefore, as might be expected, that many of those who leave Soberland, with the intention of going no further than Point Just-Enough, do yet, when they arrive at that point, extend their voyage to Tipsy Island, tempted by the increasing beauty of the scene, the favouring wind and current, and the easy landing which the shore of the island presents at no great distance. Besides those who thus voluntarily extend their voyage from Point Just-Enough to Tipsy Island, there are others who, over-shooting the Point either through ignorance or inadvertence, miss stays in their attempt to tack, and are carried to the island by the force of the wind and current. As it generally happens that those who have once visited Tipsy Island in either of the ways just mentioned, soon return to it again, direct from Soberland, and repeat their visits with great regularity during the remainder of their lives, Tipsy Island is always full of visitors. The sensations experienced on this island differ only in degree from those which are felt at Point Just-Enough. The pulse and heart beat a little quicker and stronger, the eyes become brighter, the skin hotter, the face more flushed, the voice louder, the gestures more vehement, the conversation less connected, the ideas rambling and incoherent. Some dance, some sing, some swear, some fight, all stagger about; some become loyal, others patriotic, some poetical, others philosophical; all are veracious, disinterested, magnanimous, chivalrous. It is usual to remain several hours, and even to pass the night upon the island. A few remain upon it for several days together; but as it is considered discreditable to be seen upon it in the morning, those who regard appearances usually leave for Soberland some time before day-break; many fall asleep on the island, and are carried in that state to their boats. In the morning all awake unrefreshed, with a parched mouth, hot skin, red eyes, aching head, and no appetite for breakfast, and spend the day drinking soda water at the great fountain on the quay of Soberland, which looks towards Pleasant Bay, and longing for evening in order to return to Tipsy Island, or at least as far as Point Just-Enough. Tipsy Island is said to have been first discovered by Noah, who planted vines upon it. It was afterwards sacred to Bacchus, whose temple, situated about the middle of the island, is in a high state of preservation. It has been visited by Alexander the Great, and most of the illustrous men both of ancient and modern times, the names of many of whom are to be seen, carved with their own hands, upon the bark of the vines. Its daily visitors sing a song which runs nearly as follows: The Sea, the Sea, the Drunken Sea; The blue, the fresh, the ever free, the ever free. It runneth the earth's wide regions round: Or like a cradled monster lies. I'm on the sea, the Drunken Sea; If a storm should come, and awake the deep, |