BOUND THE CO COS AND SEYCHELLES. 137 



ship. The boat was quickly hoisted again, and the 

 ship manoeuvred to pass close to windward of the 

 derelict. Then, from our mast-head, a horrible sight 

 became visible. Lying about the weather-beaten deck, 

 in various postures, were thirteen corpses, all far advanced 

 in decay, which horrible fact fully accounted for the 

 intolerable stench that had driven us away. It is, 

 perhaps, hardly necessary to say that we promptly hauled 

 our wind, and placed a good distance between us and 

 that awful load of death as soon as possible. Poor 

 wretches ! What terrible calamity had befallen them, we 

 could not guess ; whatever it was, it had been complete ; 

 nor would any sane man falling across them run the 

 risk of closer examination into details than we had done. 

 It was a great pity that we were not able to sink the 

 prahu with her ghastly cargo, and so free the air from 

 that poisonous foetor that was a deadly danger to any 

 vessel getting under her lee. 



Next day, and for a whole week after, we had a 

 stark calm — such a calm as one realizes who reads 

 sympathetically that magical piece of work, the " Ancient 

 Mariner." What an amazing instance of the triumph 

 of the human imagination ! For Coleridge certainly 

 never witnessed such a scene as he there describes with 

 an accuracy of detail that is astounding. Very few 

 sailors have noticed the sickening condition of the ocean 

 when the life-giving breeze totally fails for any length 

 of time, or, if they have, they have said but little about 

 it. Of course, some parts of the sea show the evil 

 effects of stagnation much sooner than others ; but, 

 generally speaking, want of wind at sea, if long continued, 

 produces a condition of things dangerous to the health 

 of any land near by. Whale-ships, penetrating as they 



