158 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



nick-named * ' powder-monkeys. ' ' In the end, our old Ger- 

 man proverb: "Everything is a matter of digestion," 

 plays the trump in this case especially. 



The immense surface of the South-sea is rarely visited 

 by any but so-called trade-winds, Monsoons, which blow 

 with an unsurpassed evenness and always in the same 

 direction, no matter what zone they happen to strike, only 

 being here and there interrupted by playful coursing 

 breezes. One is thus enabled to make pretty close calcu- 

 lations as to the probable duration of the trip through 

 these regions, provided the ship is in experienced hands, 

 who know how to utilize the Monsoon realms to greatest 

 advantage. We left these regions on Wednesday, the 

 nineteenth of November, and placed ourselves therefore 

 out of reach of those winds, which, if you recollect, had 

 also been our companions during the trip from Valdivia 

 to Valparaiso. We soon experienced changes after bid- 

 ding farewell to the Cape-pigeons, which had been our 

 faithful followers since the time when we passed the Rio 

 de la Plata. A strong Southeast breeze made us realize 

 the change very quickly. Our deck was covered with 

 gulf-swallows, little greyish-brown birds about as large 

 as our crows; they have white breasts and black tails and 

 wing-tips. Toward five o'clock on Thursday afternoon, 

 sailing West half-North, we caught sight of the islands 

 Ombrosio and San Feliz which disappeared from our 

 horizon again in less than half an hour. Though the day 

 happened to be exceedingly clear these islands appeared 

 and disappeared like small blue clouds. Sunday, the 

 twenty-third, we felt a mild East Monsoon with light rain, 

 but not until the twenty-fifth could the wind be utilized, 

 as we experienced on Monday, the twenty-fourth, our 

 first complete calm. I suppose this announcement will 

 give you the third fright during this reading. I count 

 this the third because I fancy that the word "leak" has 

 caused the first scare and the "powder-shipment" must 

 have given you the second fright; am I not right? But 

 it is in reality a much less serious matter than people are 

 ordinarily led to believe. Many fables have been told us 



