HIS THREE CRUISES 25 



a year, after having cruised almost around the world by 

 way of the Cape of Good Hope, the Malay Archipelago, 

 China, and the South Seas. 



In a short time, however, the Potomac sailed for home, 

 arriving at Valparaiso the middle of December. Here, 

 according to Captain Whiting, Maury had a very un- 

 pleasant experience with a young lady named Manuela 

 Poma with whom he had previously become acquainted. 

 Her hand had been sought by a young officer of the 

 Chilean army, who the evening before the Potomac 

 sailed came on board the ship and told Maury that he 

 had destroyed all his hopes of happiness. He said that 

 the previous day he had made a declaration of his love to 

 Manuela and that she had rejected him, telling him that 

 her affections were already bestowed on the young Amer- 

 ican naval officer. Instead of priding himself on this 

 conquest, as many young men would have done, Maury 

 was exceedingly distressed as he had considered his re- 

 lationship with the young girl to have been nothing more 

 than that of friendship, and by a returning ship he sent 

 a long letter to Manuela. Soon after his arrival in 

 Boston he learned that she had died of consumption. 



The voyage home round the Horn and by way of Rio 

 was more or less uneventful, except for imminent peril 

 for a time from icebergs off the Falkland Islands. After 

 three years Maury was home again, and according to the 

 decrees of Fate this was to be his last cruise. Hence a 

 distinctive period in his life had come to a close; but his 

 nine years of almost continuous sea duty had been a 

 splendid preparation for the peculiar scientific work that 

 he was soon to undertake. 



