William Strapps Diary Part 2

were to be brought by the dozen if wanted at 1/2 each & 1d if cooked Large fellows twice the size of our English Lobster & nice eating they were after strolling about a few hours we hired a boat & pulled for the ship the anchor was weighed at 1/25 pm sailed round the cape points proper & toward evening lost sight of the Land of Niggers About 9pm a full rigged barque passed on our starboard side It was a pretty sight to see her with all her canvas set scuddling thro the water the moon was shrouded at the time & the vessel as she crept along would have made a good Hobgoblin or ghosts to those who fancy such things

Tues 25 miles from Cape town 36° 30" Lat S

Jan 27th 20° 0" Long & All sail is set to day & we were a little dissappointed at seeing only 259 miles posted up but 1 1/2 hour must be knocked off on a/c of our late start It is pretty rough today I might mention that some of the soldiers who mounted guard over Cetewayo said he could speak English very well & that he was an awful black guard the effects of civilization one migh suppose & often when they ordered him in he would refuse to go The Zulus are a large race of men above the middle height & very muscular One of Cetewayo wives they say would make three averaged sized women he himself is a monster He is remarkably well off I think plenty to eat & drink & as aside out now &

again with the captain who has charge of him I fancy he is better off than he was when a king We took some 200 tons of coal in at the Cape One old chap got drunk & stayed too long out of sight so he got left behind he will have to stay till the next vessel the "John elder" arrives. We had two deserters here one was a quarter master & the other Cooksmate Several passengers were take aboard & after land was quitted some more stowaways turned up One of the stowaway's who got on at London as got the Cooks berth who ran away. It rained pretty hard this afternoon & after tea a splendid rainbow appeared another shower followed & another rainbow or it might have been the same but had considerably bright ened It was one of the most beautiful

sights I have seen the reflection it formed another bow. It spanned the horizon & looked like an huge archway which struck me so forcibly that for a bid of fun I went & called two or three of our chums to come & see the main entrance so the Indian Ocean anything to pass the time on

Wed Jany 28th 1880 [text in margin]

284 miles 38°51"Lat S 27° 11" Long & much calmer this morning the wind having considerably abated & turned out a lovely day we saw several large fish the largest we have noticed up to the present. Some of the Sailors called them Black Fish other blow fish but what they really were(not be very well up to[corrected with a line through]in that part of natural history) I cannot say. They swim very much like a porpoise. Towards noon the Engine

whistle sent forth a few hoarse notes & a general rush for the deck was the consequence. Those on deck at the head of the hatchway had the fun this time they sent the other forward to see the large iceberg we were passing. It was a good hoax & just rose the mercury in our thermometers a degree or two. I forgot to mention that we took 1/2 dozen bullocks on board at the Cape. I expect they will be rare tough eating as they look as if they had done some work. The horns are somewhat smaller than the scotch beast but shaped similar about 30 sheep also were aboard & the poor wretches looked like ghosts. These poor creatures would take no food so today their are 15 of them lying on the deck. Cut their throats[these 3 words are underlined] to save their lives