104 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



its gay colors and the sparkling of the ocean, were never 

 more exquisitely gorgeous during my whole voyage than 

 I saw it on this memorable night. "We had not had a 

 chance of watching this phenomenon since we left the 

 Bay of Biscaya, where I had seen it the first time, but not 

 in the same splendor to which we were treated this night. 

 Every one of the millions of rain-drops which fell into 

 the endless ocean, glowed dark-red like a fiery coal; ev- 

 ery flake of foam in the white crown of the waves ap- 

 peared in purest silver-light, reflecting beautifully in the 

 black sides of our ship. The storm raged, the rain con- 

 tinued with undiminished force until midnight, when the 

 wind changed to South West so that we could steer S. S. 

 E. to South. By daybreak all sails were set again and 

 our progress was rapid though the sea was still somewhat 

 tempestuous. The rain continued all day uninterrupt- 

 edly and we were unable to discover any of the many ves- 

 sels which had surrounded us the night before. During 

 the days following the calm, we had mostly stormy South 

 wind, which drove us close to the coast of Sierra Leone, 

 thereby compelling us to approach the African coast con- 

 trary to our intention. Capt. Meyer told us that hardly 

 one out of a hundred vessels, bound for a destination simi- 

 lar to our own, would have to go so far East. However, 

 these South winds must have been raging for several days, 

 as we met a number of vessels every day which were 

 cruising southward like ourselves. 



Thursday, the 17th, we passed a pretty, black brig, fly- 

 ing the British flag. Everybody took her to be our old 

 acquaintance from Madeira, the "Euphemia," although 

 we could not make sure of it, as she followed a different 

 course and did not come near enough for us to make her 

 out. Toward evening we caught sight of a bark which, 

 being hardly a quarter of a mile away, had put up the 

 lanterns without taking further notice of us. The Friday 

 following we sighted a beautiful three-masted English 

 vessel, which we, at first glance, took to be a frigate, be- 

 cause of its unusual size, appearance and the superiority 

 of its sails. Great was therefore my astonishment when, 



