358 PORTUGUESE " MEN OF WAR. 



for taking exercise, so essential on board a ship ; and 

 although our pace was not very rapid, we got on 

 steadily at the rate of nine miles an hour, without 

 seeing land or sail during the entire journey. The 

 weather favoured us throughout ; besides, the cuisine 

 being good, and the champagne to my taste, — the latter 

 I had procured from a thorough connoisseur at Yoko- 

 hama, — added considerably to the enjoyment of one of 

 the finest voyages I have ever .made, and any stray 

 hour of weariness promptly gave way to the strong 

 interest created by Motley's or Prescott's excellent 

 works. 



Nothing worth recording happened during our 

 passage, excepting perhaps the novelty of having a 

 double edition of the first of May, on which day we 

 passed the ante-meridian. It created much wonder 

 and amusement to many on board, who had never 

 contemplated the possibility of such an occurrence, 

 when on the following day, for the purpose of readjust- 

 mg the calendar, the slate journal again was headed 

 "May 1st." We had a strong head -wind that day, and 

 the ship was actually pitching, an unusual sensation in 

 the Pacific. We now passed shoals of dark blue 

 molluscs, commonly called " Portuguese Men-of-war." 

 They are very pretty animals of flat oblong shape, an 

 inch and a half long, indigo blue, almost transparent, 



