ROSARIO, AND A VOYAGE TO THE UNITED STATES AND BACK. 43 



it signed. Supposing my troubles over, I repaired to the mole, where, after unpacking in 

 presence of the officers of the resguardo, I found that I should be obliged to carry everything to 

 the custom-house, because, forsooth, some of the instruments looked new. At the custom-house 

 it was necessary to go through the same labor of unpacking again — and all this in the sunshine, 

 with the temperature of the air about 90°, that of my temper at 212°. When the curiosity of 

 the clerks was satisfied, I was told quietly that the instruments could not pass, because they 

 were not comestibles — as if anybody ever supposed that magnetical instruments were comestible. 

 Heartily wishing that the custom-house officers were food for the worms, I repaired to the col- 

 lector, and, by speaking my mind very freely to him, succeeded in getting an order to have the 

 things passed. 



After making a full set of observations in Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, I embarked on 

 board the American barque "Almeida," Captain Kearney, and without special incident arrived 

 at New York, after a passage of fifty-six days. 



A short time before my return. Congress had passed a law giving extra pay to officers and men 

 who had served in the Pacific during the Mexican war, and I found myself with sufficient funds 

 to enable me to return to South America and ascertain the longitudes of my stations satisfactorily, 

 as also to complete the chain of barometrical measures across the country. Having obtained 

 permission to do so, at my own expense, I again, on the 12th of August, 1853, sailed from New 

 York for Montevideo, on board of the ship "Margaret Eliza." We had a pleasant passage out, 

 and an agreeable set of passengers, with the exception that they were too religious for me. One 

 of them, who was fresh and red-hot from a camp-meeting at Cape Cod, seemed to think it his 

 special mission on earth to convert me, and gave me no peace until he concluded I was past redemp- 

 tion. He was constantly telling me, with a whining, nasal twang, that he had Christ in his 

 heart ; he knew it ; he felt it : that he was ready to die at any moment, and that death had no 

 terrors for him. Nevertheless he was very scary about the ship ; and all day long, in bad weather, 

 when not praying, would sit in the boat stowed on the poop, and watch both captain and th ■ 

 weather with intense anxiety. If a squall struck the ship, he would turn very pale, shut his 

 teeth hard, and hold on to the boat's gunwale with both hands, looking the picture of terror. 

 On such occasions I could not resist a desire to ask him if he had Christ in his heart then. 



I made a set of observations in Montevideo, and another in Buenos Ayres, and then engaged 

 passage in a Buenos Ayrean schooner for Eosario. The captain and crew were, as usual, 

 Italians. 



On embarking, I found some seven or eight jDassengers, among whom there was an overgrown, 

 sentimental-looking Frenchman, who appeared to be a stranger to all on board, and was pen- 

 sively whiling away time with a flute. His green spectacles, and indeed everything about him 

 made me suppose he was an author, and it was not until we were near Eosario that I found him 

 to be a cook — a regular Parisian artiste — who had been thrown out of occujsation by the siege 

 of Buenos Ayres; was "hard up," and bound to Chile in search of employment. All this was 

 told me when he learned that I had been looking for a servant in Buenos Ayres. He was 

 anxious to serve me^ and asked no more than that I should pay his expens s ; but as I wanted 

 a man accustomed to the country and to the management of horses, I declined the ofi'er, suggest- 

 ing, however, that he should make a bargain with the arriero whom I might employ, and in 

 that way he could get a mule or two added to my train at a very low price. This he decided to 

 do, and I thus became burdened with an incumbrance that could not be gotten rid of until our 

 arrival in Chile. 



Eosario did not make so great impression at my second visit as at the first. The houses did 

 not look so fine, nor did the dresses of foreigners, attired in the European style, appear so 

 elegant. I suppose the reason was, that on the first visit I saw it after crossing the pampa, 

 where nearlj^ all the towns have an aspect of decay, while on the second I was fresh from New 

 York. Nevertheless it is an exceedingly thriving place, and even during my sliort absence 

 gave evidence of increased prosperity, in the organization of a club of foreign residents, where 



