RETURN TO BUENOS AIRES. 155 



been of the greatest service to the navigator, since every submerged rock 

 supports a growth of it, which acts as a buoy, warning the experienced 

 mariner of the danger which lies hidden beneath the surface. The waters 

 of the little bay at St. John's were also rich in animal life. A peculiar, 

 almost transparent, umbrella-shaped jelly-fish, and certain large star-fishes 

 were especially abundant In the evening the bay seemed fairly alive 

 with seals, which disported themselves in great numbers in the water 

 about the sides of the vessel. 



We left Staaten Island in the evening, and the following morning, in the 

 teeth of a strong westerly breeze, we arrived at San Sebastian Bay, on the 

 east coast of Tierra del Fuego. Here we stopped for a couple of hours 

 to exchange mails before proceeding on our way to Gallegos, where we 

 arrived on the fourth of June, after having completely circumnavigated 

 Tierra del Fuego. At Gallegos we bade good-bye to our many friends, 

 and on the following day, June fifth, went aboard the "Villarino," home- 

 ward bound. At Santa Cruz we took on the collections made during our 

 trip into the interior, and, after the customary stops at the various ports of 

 call along the coast, we arrived at Buenos Aires, June twelfth. 



On enquiry at the Lamport & Holt offices in Buenos Aires we found 

 that the "Maskelyne," one of that company's steamers, would be sailing 

 in a few days for New York. We immediately engaged passage on this 

 vessel, and the morning of June seventeenth found us on board and 

 steaming slowly out of the "Boca" and down the River Plate to Monte- 

 video, where, for three days, we were delayed, completing our cargo of dry 

 hides and charqui for New York and Cuba. Leaving Montevideo on the 

 twentieth of June, we proceeded directly to New York, stopping only at 

 Castries in St. Lucia, a small island in the West Indies, which derives its 

 chief importance through the advantages offered by its small but excellent 

 harbor as a coaling station. 



As we approached Cape St. Roque on our homeward voyage, we en- 

 countered the strong south equatorial current, which for several days in- 

 creased our normal run for each twenty-four hours by from fifty to 

 seventy-five miles. When we arrived opposite the mouth of the Amazon, 

 although distant more than three hundred miles from shore, the waters of 

 the ocean were still much affected both in temperature and color by that 

 mighty river. We re-coaled at St. Lucia, and proceeded on our way to 

 New York, where we arrived on the evening of July sixteenth, just too 



