HISTORICAL SKETCHES. 197 



her original shape, but she made the trip to Valparaiso 

 from an Eastern port in the then unprecedented time 

 of sixty-five days. She afterward in 1850 made a 

 remarkably short trip to San Francisco. And again an 

 old schoolmate of mine related to me that while in 

 command of the ' Independencia' in 1848, on a voyage 

 from the coast of Africa to Kio de Janeiro with a cargo 

 of four hundred slaves, he was chased by a British 

 frigate. He was on his second voyage in the vessel, 

 and had always prided himself on her speed. The 

 chase was discovered early in the morning far astern, 

 but at noon he was satisfied that before night he would 

 be overhauled. Calling his carpenter, he ordered him 

 to sharpen his saw and saw through the main rail, 

 bulwarks, and plank shear, commencing forward and 

 making incisions eight or nine feet apart on each side 

 of the vessel (thereby of course weakening the vessel); 

 this was done, and in two hours it was discovered that 

 the frigate had dropped astern, and when darkness 

 came all fear of being o'vertaken had passed. The 

 cargo was successfully landed before the frigate again 

 made her appearance; and when she did the slaver 

 had been scuttled, and all traces of her identity de- 

 stroyed by the same element she had so successfully 

 braved." 



Provisions were so scarce that corn was frequently 

 $3 a bushel and more, flour $30 a barrel, and other 

 necessaries of life in the same proportion. It was 

 soon found that a new source or substitute must be 

 discovered for fuel, as the coasters which had hereto- 

 fore brought their wood from the continent turned 

 their attention another way on account of the risk of 



