“Yes,” replied the Doctor, “the westerly course, against wind and tide, there is no doubt about that,” added he, catching hold of a kevel to prevent himself from rolling on the deck. “Do you know what I should do with the ‘Great Eastern’ if she belonged to me? No. Well, I would make a pleasure-boat of her, and charge 10,000 francs a head; there would only be millionnaires on board, and people who were not pressed for time. I would take a month or six weeks going from England to America; the ship never against the waves, and the wind always ahead or astern; there should be no rolling, no pitching, and I would pay a 100_F._ in any case of sea-sickness.” “That is a practical idea,” said I. “Yes,” replied Pitferge, “there’s money to be gained or lost by that!” In the meantime the “Great Eastern” was slowly but steadily continuing her way; the swell was frightful, but her straight stem cut the waves regularly, and shipped no more water. It was no longer a metal mountain making against a mountain of water, but as sedentary as a rock; the “Great Eastern” received the billows with perfect indifference. The rain fell in torrents, and we were obliged to take refuge under the eaves of the grand saloon; with the shower the violence of the wind and sea assuaged; the western sky grew clear, and the last black clouds vanished in the opposite horizon; at ten o’clock the hurricane sent us a farewell gust. At noon an observation was able to be made and was as follows:— Lat. 49° 50´, N. Long. 61° 57´, W. Course, 193 miles. This considerable diminution in the ship’s speed could only be attributed to the tempest, which during the night and morning had incessantly beaten against the ship, and a tempest so terrible that one of the passengers, almost an inhabitant of the Atlantic, which he had crossed forty-four times, declared he had never seen the like. The engineer even said that during the storm, when the “Great Eastern” was three days in the trough of the sea, the ship had never been attacked with such violence, and it must be repeated that even if this admirable steam-ship did go at an inferior speed, and rolled decidedly too much, she nevertheless presented a sure security against the fury of the sea, which she resisted like a block, owing to the perfect homogeneity of her construction.