166 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



West winds and calms. The day before yesterday we no- 

 ticed during the afternoon several sharks in our wake 

 and within an hour's time, we had succeeded in catching 

 no less than three of them, two of which were about four 

 feet in length, while one measured fully seven feet. They 

 were of the less dangerous kind, so-called, blue-sharks. 

 Though these are fully as greedy as their relatives, the 

 ground and shuffle-sharks, they are much lazier and dis- 

 like fast swimming; though they are well able to move 

 slowly, a good swimmer can easily out-do them, pro- 

 vided, he has no more than one at his heels. One of the 

 little fellows was fried for supper. The taste is somewhat 

 similar to that of the laddock (shellfish), though one 

 cannot eat as much of it, and he must be very careful in 

 partaking of fish at sea, I am told, on account of the seri- 

 ous stomach troubles and vomiting which generally fol- 

 low, no matter what kind of fish he indulges in. This 

 forenoon we had another calm and were enveloped in a 

 heavy fog which reminded me of the familiar Baltic sum- 

 mer fogs. Since noon the air has cleared considerably 

 and at present we enjoy a light Northern breeze, which 

 sends us slowly toward our destination. I am in the best 

 of hopes that my travels may terminate in a few days, 

 and dare say that, considering all, it has been a lucky voy- 

 age, of which the last part has proved particularly agree- 

 able, though as a whole ours has not been a very fast 

 trip. More from San Francisco. Good bye for the pres- 

 ent. Your 



FRANZ. 



Note by Translator. — The reader will probably remember that 

 young Mr. Lecouvreur mentioned in one of his former letters the 

 enclosure of an exact nautical record, covering the voyage to 

 Valparaiso. Whether this document was lost or mislaid, the 

 translator is unable to say, and he has had to content himself with 

 a reproduction of a few notes, found in one of the neatly-kept 

 diaries which, like everything else that the noble pioneer under- 

 took, are a lasting proof of his uncommon exactness, as well as 

 an enduring record of a useful life. Here is a transcription of 

 the notes found : 



