6 



HA WAIL 



[letter I. 



been patched up for this trip, and eight passengers, including 

 myself, have trusted ourselves to her. She is a huge paddle- 

 steamer, of the old-fashioned American type, deck above deck, 

 balconies, a pilot-house abaft the foremast, two monstrous 

 walking beams, and two masts which, possibly in case of need, 

 might serve as jury masts. 



Huge, airy, perfectly comfortable as she is, not a passenger 

 stepped on board without breathing a more earnest prayer 

 than usual that the voyage might end propitiously. The very 

 first evening statements were whispered about to the effect that 

 her state of disrepair is such that she has not been to her own 

 port for nine months, and has been sailing for that time without 

 a certificate ; that her starboard shaft is partially fractured, and 

 that to reduce the strain upon it the floats of her starboard 

 wheel have been shortened five inches, the strain being further 

 reduced by giving her a decided list to port ; that her crank is 

 " bandaged," that she is leaky, that her mainmast is sprung, 

 and that with only four hours' steaming many of her boiler 

 tubes, even some of those put in at Auckland, had already 

 given way. I cannot testify concerning the mainmast, though 

 it certainly does comport itself like no other mainmast I ever 

 saw ; but the other statements, and many more which might be 

 added, are, I believe, substantially correct. That the caulking 

 of the deck was in evil case we very soon had proof, for heavy 

 rain on deck was a smart shower in the saloon and state rooms, 

 keeping four stewards employed with buckets and swabs, and 

 compelling us to dine in waterproofs and rubber shoes. 



In this dilapidated condition, when two days out from Auck- 

 land, we encountered a revolving South Sea hurricane, suc- 

 cinctly entered in the log of the day as " Encountered a very 

 severe hurricane with a very heavy sea." It began at eight in 

 the morning, and never spent its fury till nine at night, and 

 the wind changed its direction eleven times. The Nevada left 

 Auckland two feet deeper in the water than she ought to have 

 been, and laboured heavily. Seas struck her under the guards 

 with a heavy, explosive thud, and she groaned and strained as 

 if she would part asunder. We held no communication with 

 each other, or with those who could form any rational estimate 

 of the probabilities of our destiny ; no officials appeared ; the 

 ordinary invariable routine of the steward department was 

 suspended without notice ; the sounds were tremendous, and a 

 hot, lurid obscurity filled the atmosphere. Soon after four the 

 clamour increased, and the shock of a sea blowing up a part 



