317* 



1818. — January 1. (Thursday.) 



On this day, on my former voyage, I landed at 

 Black River. Now we are still at some distance 

 from the line, and are told that we cannot expect 

 to reach Jamaica in less than three weeks, even 

 with favourable breezes \ and our breezes at pre- 

 sent are not favourable. Nothing but light winds, 

 or else dead calms ; two knots an hour, and 

 obliged to be thankful even for that ! A-weel ! this 

 is weary work ! 



January 17. (Saturday.) 

 On Saturday, the 3d, we managed to crawl over 

 the line, and had no sooner got to the other side of 

 it, than we were completely becalmed ; and even 

 when we resumed our progress, it was at such a 

 pace that a careless observer might have been 

 pardoned for mistaking our manner of moving for 

 a downright standing still. Day after day pro- 

 duced nothing better for us than baffling winds, so 

 light that we scarcely made two miles an hour, and 

 so variable that the sails could be scarcely set in 

 one direction before it became necessary to shift 

 them to another ; while the monotony of our 

 voyage was only broken by an occasional thunder- 

 storm, the catching a stray dolphin now and then, 

 watching a shoal of flying fish, or guessing at the 

 complexion of the corsairs on board some vessel in 

 the offing : for the Caribbean Sea is now dabbed 



