Copy 1, Volume 1

The highlands of Aethiopia / By Major W. Cornwallis Harris.

  • William Cornwallis Harris
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The highlands of Aethiopia / By Major W. Cornwallis Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lined the pier and the ramparts of the saluting battery, to pay a parting tribute of respect to their late governor, Sir James Kivett Carnac, who, with his lady and family, was now returning to his native land. On board also were the officers and gentle¬ men composing an Embassy organised under in¬ structions by the government of India. More than a fortnight had been diligently passed in the equip¬ ment of this mission; but its objects, no less than the destination of its innumerable bales and boxes, still served as puzzles to public curiosity; and many a sapient conjecture on the subject was doubtless launched after the bounding frigate as she dis¬ appeared amid the haze of the closing day. Immortal Watt! sordid is the man who places his foot behind the Titanic engines which owe their birth to thee, and who would withhold, as an offer¬ ing to the altar of thy memory, a mite, according to his worldly means, wherewith to erect a fabric colossal as the power enthralled by thy transcend¬ ent genius ! Strange are the revolutions undergone in affairs nautical since the introduction of the ma¬ rine steam-engine upon the Indian seas. The creak¬ ing of yards has given place to the coughing and sobbing of machinery, as it heaves in convulsive throes. Tacking and wearing have become terms obsolete, and through the clang of the fire-doors, and the ceaseless stroke of paddle-wheels, the voice of the pilot is rarely heard, save in conjunction with “ Stop her,” or Turn a-head.”
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