116 Crossing the Line 



1817, continued 



taken by order of the French government. In a series of letters to a 

 friend, by J. Arago, draftsman to the expedition ... To which is prefixed 

 the report made to the Academy of Sciences, on the general results of 

 the expedition. London, 1823. p. 29-36.) 



Arago was officially "draftsman to the expedition" or, as the French text runs, "en qualité de 

 dessinateur," and he sailed on the Uraine. Note that under his name in the catalogue printed by 

 the Bibhothèque Nationale stand some eighty entries, and one is wiUing to admit that he showed 

 himself in later years able to rank with joumahsts, theatre directors, travelers, general writers on 

 many topics, evidently not troubled by restraints on his expression of emotion or opinion. He 

 was tlie third of four brothers. 



Avant de commencer la cérémonie le roi de la ligne envoie au capitaine 

 im coïKrier qui lit la mission suivante : 



Je vous envoie Rafalus-Ouraganus à cette fin de savoir si ta bicoque de 

 coque a déjà visité la — (ligne); si oui, file ton nœud; si non mes gabiers 

 armés de leurs HH, vont abattre ta poulaine, à moins que tu ne t'exé- 

 cutes en vrai gabier. Je sais que tu es im vrai lapin, qui te f. ... du typhon 

 ainsi que d'une chique; mais comme tu vas marcher le tête en bas, ce qui est 

 gênant pour la soupe, tu as besoin d'appui et je suis à toi. 



(Jacques Arago. Deux océans. Paris, 1854, reprinted in: Melusine, v. 2 



(1884-5), column 279.) 



Melusine in 1884 quotes from Deux Oceans, thirty years earlier. Just when the messenger of 

 Neptune appeared is uncertain, but it seems fairly probable that the tale refers to the voyage 

 of 1817. It is so ordered and filed. 



1818 



The 8th [of February, 1818], at six o'clock in the morning, w^e crossed the 

 line in longitude 253° 9'. We savv^ to the right, at the edge of the horizon, a 

 ship under saü, which, as it came nearer, I recognized by its sails and struc- 

 ture to be a pirate ship belonging to the Malays. 



(Otto von Kotzebue. A voyage of discovery into the South Sea. Lon- 

 don, 1821. v. 2, p. 269-270.) 



This crossing in the Pacific from north to south was on the homeward voyage; no ceremony 

 this time as compared with the outward bound froHcs in 1815. The second crossing from north 

 to south in the Atlantic is noted under 1823, and Kotzebue's account of the ceremony is quoted 

 by Fitz-Roy in his story of the voyage of the Beagle, 1832. 



1822 



[Apru 2, 1822. pm board La Néréide.] Quel curieux sujet d'études ofiFre un 

 vaisseau, chargé de passagers, lorsqu'il navigue, paisiblement, dans les mers 

 radieuses qui avoisinent les Tropiques! 



Presque pas de manœuvres! par suite de la persistance du beau temps. 

 Aussi, chacun essaie t-il de se distraire, suivant ses goûts. Les uns jouent 

 aux cartes, aux dames ou au loto. Cetix-ci font des armes; ceux-là, de la 



