[On the whole, life among the company of officers was satisfactory enough. (The Assistant-Surgeon messed in the gun-room with the middies.  A man in the midst of a lot of boys, with hardly any grown-up companions, often has a rather unenviable position; but, says Captain Heath, who was one of these middies, Huxley’s constant good spirits and fun, when he was not absorbed in his work, his freedom from any assumption of superiority over them, made the boys his good comrades and allies.) Huxley’s immediate superior, John Thompson, was a man of sterling worth; and Captain Stanley was an excellent commander, and sympathetic withal.  Among Huxley’s messmates there was only one, the ship’s clerk, whoever made himself actively disagreeable, and a quarrel with him only served to bring into relief the young surgeon’s integrity and directness of action.  After some dispute, in which he had been worsted, this gentleman sought to avenge himself by dropping mysterious hints as to Huxley’s conduct before joining the ship.  He had been treasurer of his mess; there had been trouble about the accounts, and a scandal had barely been averted.  This was not long in coming to Huxley’s ears.  Furiously indignant as he was, he did not lose his self-control; but promptly inviting the members of the wardroom to meet as a court of honour, laid his case before them, and challenged his accuser to bring forward any tittle of evidence in support of his insinuations.  The latter had nothing to say for himself, and made a formal retraction and apology.  A signed account of the proceedings was kept by the first officer, and a duplicate by Huxley, as a defence against any possible revival of the slander.

On December 3, 1846, the “Rattlesnake” frigate left Spithead, but touched again at Plymouth to ship 65,000 pounds sterling of specie for the Cape.  This delay was no pleasure to the young Huxley; it only served to renew the pain of parting from home, so that, after writing a last letter to reassure his mother as to the comfort of his present quarters, he was glad to lose sight of the English coast on the 11th.

Madeira was reached on the 18th.  On the 26th they sailed for Rio de Janeiro, where they stayed from January 23 to February 2, 1847.  Here Huxley had his first experience of tropical dredging in Botafago Bay, with Macgillivray, naturalist to the expedition.  It was a memorable occasion, the more so, because in the absence of a sieve they were compelled to use their hands as strainers the first day.  Happily the want was afterwards supplied by a meat cover.  From the following letter it seems that several prizes of value were taken in the dredge:—­]

Rio de Janeiro, January 24, 1847.

My dear Mother,