376 THE DOLDORUMS OF THE EQUATOR. 



home. Every one at once turned-to with a will : 

 the yards were manned in a twinkling; studding- 

 sail booms and studdingsail rio-crinor were ris-ored and 

 rove aloft and alow, until the masts wore, as it were, 

 an entire sheet of canvass from the royal j^ards to the 

 deck, extending twice or thrice our beam, and assist- 

 ing to the utmost our expeditious return. But the 

 wind was aft and light, and our ship by no means 

 kept pace with our impatient desires. Yet directly 

 onward she made her way, unmarked by incident, 

 until within a few degrees of the Equator. Here the 

 doldorums (those pests of the homeward-bound !) oc- 

 casioned a delay which well nigh again exhausted our 

 patience. These doldorums are neither one thing 

 nor the other : they are not positive calms, neither 

 are they gales. For instance, one may wake at sun- 

 rise, find a pleasant breeze blowing, the wind fair, 

 sky clear, and not a sign in the horizon on which to 

 base a supposition of change : under this impression 

 he will lounge around, congratulate himself on the 

 ship's progress, and occupy his mind with thoughts 

 of home ; but, pausing, he glances to the sails, and 

 finds them flapping from the scarcity of wind; and 

 awakened from his reverie by the cheerless booming 

 of the canvass, he directs his attention to the horizon, 

 and finds haze or clouds in every quarter, portending 

 squalls, either of rain or wind. A minute later, the 

 flapping sail is hard aback, with a contrary wind ; 

 torrents of rain are falling ; squall follows squall, in 

 rapid succession, each from a different point — and 

 thus they continue, until, having boxed the compass 

 in the course of an hour, the ship returns to her 

 former position, and lazily drags herself along for 



