138 SOUTHERN CRUISE. 
many, very many dangers to encounter before meeting again. But 
there is a feeling produced by the kind of service on which we were 
engaged, that gives a stout heart, braces it for meeting almost every 
emergency that may happen, and causes us to look forward with 
hope to overcome the difficulties that may lie in our path. After a 
short time we saw the Peacock and Flying-Fish under sail, fol- 
lowing us. 
The wind continued light, with fine weather, until the afternoon. 
The whole scenery around us was viewed to great advantage, under 
a mild state of the atmosphere, taking away from it the usual gloomy 
aspect which a sky, overcast and boisterous, gives. A dense bank of 
cumuli in the southwest foretold that we were not long to enjoy such 
moderate weather. About 4 p. m., a heavy squall struck us, which 
soon took us clear of the islands, on our course to the southward. 
On the 26th, we discovered a sail, which proved to be the whale 
ship America, from New Zealand, bound to New York, and afforded 
us an opportunity of writing home, which we gladly availed ourselves 
of. The master of the America informed me that he had experienced 
constant heavy winds, and had been thirty-five days from New 
Zealand ; that the ship was very leaky, but having a full cargo of 
three thousand eight hundred barrels of oil, he was in great spirits. 
I have seldom seen at sea a more uncombed and dirty set than his 
crew. How they preserve any tolerable state of health I know not, 
and it is not at all surprising that the ravages of scurvy should be 
felt on board of some vessels belonging to the whaling fleet, if this 
is the state in which they are kept. 
After delivering our letters we bore away to the southeast, the 
wind inclining to the northwest and blowing heavy, with a high and 
remarkably regular sea following. This afforded me an opportunity 
I had long desired, for making observations to determine the height 
of the waves, together with their width and velocity. It is obviously 
very difficult to do this with correctness. I shall therefore state the 
means which I adopted, in order that it may be perceived what 
reliance is to be placed on the results. 
This opportunity was far more favourable than that which occurred 
off Madeira, when I was enabled to get only an approximation to 
their velocity, they were not then urged on by any fresh impetus as 
in the present case. 
The Porpoise was directly ahead of the Sea-Gull, and but two 
waves apart; the rate of sailing was about eight knots an hour, both 
