134 SOUTHERN CRUISE. 



happen, and causes one to look forward with hope to overcome the 

 difficulties that may lie in the path. After a short time we saw the 

 Peacock and Flying-Fish under sail, following 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 w T hich a sky, overcast and boisterous, gives. A dense bank of 

 cumuli in the southwest foretold that we w r ere 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 of mariners 

 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 usual 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 vessels 

 being apparently very steady. In heaving the log, I found that the 

 chip, in drawing in the line, was, when on the top of the next wave 

 astern, distant by line three hundred and eighty feet, equal to one- 

 sixteenth of a mile, and the schooner being on the next wave, was 

 twice the distance, or one-eighth of a mile. The time occupied for a 

 wave to pass from the schooner to the brig was thirteen seconds, 



