ICO EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



slowly glides down the horizon of the un-measurable 

 waters, the bottomless depth of which appears still more 

 awe-inspiring on account of the profound silence, which 

 everywhere prevails. Even the fleetest-winged powers of 

 imagination— such as only truly poetical souls possess— 

 cannot fully do justice to so grand, and yet so melancholy 

 a spectacle. I often felt the tears come into my eyes, 

 without knowing the cause. Even the wind seems to pay 

 his last respects before the majesty of the setting sun as 

 it invariably stops its course for just a few minutes, the 

 moment the last spark of the immense fire-disk has dis- 

 appeared in the ocean. This unusually clear sun-set, how- 

 ever, is not the only proof of the extraordinary transpar- 

 ency of the air in these regions, for the circumstance 

 which enables the naked eye to observe the moon along- 

 side of the noon-day sun, is assuredly another not less to 

 be underrated. As the light breeze was unable to ruffle 

 the ocean, we seldom observed foam-crowned waves and, 

 had it not been for the occasional upheaving, or swell, as 

 it rolled from the South, and only disappears altogether 

 as we approached the Equator, we could, in reality, have 

 mistaken the bottomless sea for a vast pond. The up- 

 heaving I just mentioned, reaches a height of from six to 

 eight feet and a width of about eight hundred feet, while 

 it is often several miles long, dimensions which, by far, 

 out-measure the swells of the Atlantic, which, at the 

 time, surprised me greatly. While the South Sea appears 

 more imposing as regards the immensity of the waves, 

 it cannot compare with the beauties of the Atlantic as 

 far as the coloring of the water is concerned. As I have 

 mentioned in an earlier letter, the Atlantic Ocean has a 

 magnificent dark blue color, while the South Sea, though 

 clear as crystal, is of a much paler and more greenish 

 hue. The brilliancy of the surface shines forth more 

 beautifully in the Pacific than on the other side of the 

 American continent and what has particularly attracted 

 my attention is a certain lightning in the water which 

 often causes a momentary flash-light of bluish or reddish 

 shade, covering at times a space of many feet in dimen- 

 sion. 



