18 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR "WEST. 



it was against rules for steerage passengers to pass 

 abaft the capstan, our kind-hearted captain was not very- 

 strict in enforcing this order, and for hours together 

 I have watched the sparkhng foam under the stern. 

 Once while so occupied I was startled by a rushing, 

 snorting noise, and looking up, saw the dark form of a 

 grampus from about eighteen to twenty feet in length, 

 rushing through the flashing waters as if swimming in 

 liquid fire ; he disappeared close under the stern. 



On the following day we fell in with another ship : 

 on our hoisting our Bremen colors, she showed an 

 American ensign ; we passed about fifty yards from 

 her. The captains exchanged their latitude and lon- 

 gitude, and gave the name of the ports they came from 

 and were bound to : her destination was Oporto. A 

 singular feeling is awakened by thus meeting another 

 ship on the immense ocean ; to see another little v»'orld 

 appear, pass within hail, then diminish to a white 

 point, and disappear, leaving the poor emigrant more 

 deserted than before on the waste of waters. 



On the 7th June, we were running eleven knots an 

 hour ; there was not much sea, so that very few were 

 sea-sick, and most had appeared on deck and collected 

 into picturesque groups, — here a couple playing cards, 

 there one with a prayer-book, a couple of girls knitting 

 and reading together, and some with wrinkled brows, 

 strange contortions of the mouth, and uncouth sounds, 

 industriously studying, and endeavoring to pronounce, 

 English. These quiet pleasant days were named by us 

 fine fricandeau days, for the following reason. We 

 could not eat all the salt meat and bacon that was 

 served out, so we mixed the remains, after mincmg it 



