CHAPTER IX.
CONTAINS THE SECOND PART OF MY FATHER'S JOURNAL: SETTING FORTH HIS ADVENTURES IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON.
"Sept.

29th, 1848 .-- It is a strange thing that on the very next day after reading my father's message I should have been struck down and reduced to my present condition.

But so it is, and now, four months after my first entry in this Journal, I am barely able to use the pen to add to my account.

As far as I remember--for my head wanders sadly at times--it happened thus: On the 23rd of May last, after spending the greater part of the day in writing my Journal, and also my first letter to my dear wife, I walked down in the cool of the evening to the city, intending to post the latter; which I did, and was returning to Mr.Sanderson's house, when I stopped to watch the sun setting in this glorious Bay of Bengal.

I was leaning over a low wall, looking out on the open sea with its palm-fringed shores, when suddenly the sun shot out a jagged flame; the sky heaved and turned to blood--and I knew no more.