EOUND CAPE HORN VALPARAISO SANTIAGO. 97 



one of them said he only knew one sanguinary song, and 

 he was pretty well d — d if he knew all that ; and after a 

 few more oaths commenced one of the dismalest, most 

 melancholy, and unintelligible melodies (?) I ever heard ; 

 nothing about Nance or Bet, or trim-built wherries, or 

 anything most distantly connected with the sea, but a 

 strange medley, something about be-er and whiskey, 

 randy dandy oh ! he ! oh ! the chorus being joined in by 

 the others in a vacant haphazard sort of way when the 

 idea struck them. 



Thrown thus on m}^ own resources, I soon began to 

 find that the real enjoyments of the voyage must be 

 sought for in Nature herself; and these were not a few. 

 How shall I describe the glories of a tropical sunset — the 

 balmy breezes, the singing tackle and the snowy sail; 

 the dreamy, indolent, fairy life of a calm in Capricorn, 

 where life " seems always afternoon '' — the ratthng burst 

 of the fell pampero the white-crested ^'' willy-waw,^-' 

 or the violent west wind raging round Cape Horn, dread 

 of mariners ? And then the tropical nights ! How sweet 

 to watch, prone on the deck, the ever-fading twilight or 

 the flaming glories of the Southern Cross, or warrior 

 Orion burning with lights unknown to colder climes. 

 Pleasant it was to mark the dolphin, merriest and swiftest 

 of his tribe, leap o^er the ripple of the wave in sheer joy 

 of heart at the coming breeze, or follow the course of 

 the gladsome flying-fish, the common prey of all. I re- 

 member one night ofi* the mouth of the Plate we fell in 

 with an enormous school of porpoises ; the sea at the 

 time was peculiarly phosphorescent, and as they darted 

 here and there just beneath the bovvs, or leapt up dozens 

 at a time, as if by preconcerted signal, they left long 

 trains and flashes of light far behind them ; it was very 



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