156 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



morning we began to weigh anchor, while the church- 

 bells were inviting the faithful to early mass. There are 

 many magnificent churches in all South-American cities, 

 and Valparaiso is also well supplied. By half-past ten we 

 started on our voyage, passing the light-house half-an- 

 hour later, with a light South wind, while the weather 

 was perfectly beautiful. A Chilean three-master and the 

 large Hamburg "Johannis Marie" left the harbor at the 

 same time. It is truly astonishing how many Hamburg 

 vessels one encounters everywhere: the merchant-marine 

 of the old Hansa-town is evidently as well represented 

 on the Pacific as on the Atlantic ocean. Toward one 

 o'clock we set lee-sails and made no change whatever 

 until the nineteenth of the month, when the bram and 

 lee-sails had to be laid by. Think of it, nine days with- 

 out changing sails! This will serve you as evidence of 

 the magnificent weather and favorable winds which we 

 enjoyed. Hardly had we gone to sea, however, when 

 someone discovered that the old "Aurora" had sprung 

 a leak, which caused an inflow of about fourteen inches 

 of water per watch. "One watch," in sailor parlance, 

 means four hours of duty, or one shift. Of course, we 

 passengers began to worry a little, but the uneasiness 

 was soon overcome, when we became convinced that the 

 leakage did not increase. There was not, however, any 

 additional influx of water near the pumps. Though the 

 danger from the leak seemed very small, it nevertheless 

 became the cause of two very disagreeable features, which 

 we did not meet with on board of the "Victoria." The 

 pumping to' begin with, caused a barbaric noise, which, 

 being repeated every two hours, day and night, became 

 a constant bar to the sleep of nervously inclined passen- 

 gers. Much more troublesome than the pumping were, 

 in my estimation, the countless bed-bugs and rats, which 

 latter, in particular, paid us nightly visits in our bunks. 

 Imagine our joy ! 



There was consternation among our passengers when 

 it became known shortly after leaving the port of Val- 

 paraiso that we had a goodly load of gun-powder on 



