THE OCEAN VOYAGE 151 



It has cost us quite a fight to manage the continuance 

 of our voyage on the "Aurora." Poppe, the agent of 

 Godefroy (Hamburg) had flatly refused me the privilege 

 of sailing with this vessel and declared in an insolent 

 manner that he would ship us when and in whatever 

 class of vessel he might see fit ; and that we were not to 

 have any say in the matter. That was a little too much 

 for me, moreover, as I had found out that it was his inten- 

 tion to place us on board of a small Chilean vessel, which 

 was to go to San Francisco at the beginning of Decem- 

 ber; it carries steerage passengers and is said to have 

 engaged already eighty berths. I then gave Poppe a 

 piece of my mind and complained at once to Hallmann 

 (the Consul of Bremen, to whom Oswald had recommend- 

 ed me), to Uhde and Hunecken (the Hamburg Consul, 

 upon Bartsch's suggestion), and to the Prussian Consul. 

 This caused some noise, which evidently scared Poppe to 

 some extent, as I received the announcement of our pas- 

 sage on the "Aurora" two days later. I now hasten to 

 the close of my letter by giving you an idea of the 

 weather which we found in sailing around the Cape. We 

 received news from Terra del Fuego since we came here 

 and the report refers to several vessels which we met 

 there in September last, and is rather sad. An English 

 three-master and a bark are in San Carlos, the former 

 minus masts and leaking, and the latter without sails and 

 fore-mast. A Danish bark is at anchor in Ancud on ac- 

 count of damage on palisades and rigging; both ports 

 mentioned are on the Chiloe islands. A large Dutch ves- 

 sel is in dock at Corral on account of severe leakage and 

 loss of bowsprit, boats and rigging. In Coquimbo and 

 Copiapo are likewise ships awaiting repairs, which have 

 suffered considerably. Nearly all ships which arrived 

 later than we in Valparaiso have suffered more or less 

 damage, with the single exception of the Hamburg brig 

 "Sarah," which passed the Cape at the beginning of < Oc- 

 tober with good weather in three days. The brig of 

 "Apenrade" has not yet arrived. It was owing to a mis- 

 understanding on my part that I announced her arrival 



