10 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



sea on board the bark Tennessee, Scholefield mas- 

 ter, for Sisal, the port from which we had sailed on 

 our return to the United States. 



The Tennessee was a down-Easter of two hun- 

 dred and sixty tons burden, turned out apparently 

 from one of those great factories where ships are 

 built by the mile and chopped off to order, but stout, 

 strong, well manned and equipped. 



Her cargo was assorted for the Yucatan market, 

 and consisted of a heavy stratum of iron at the bot- 

 tom ; midway were miscellanies, among which were 

 cotton, muskets, and two hundred barrels of turpen- 

 tine ; and on top, within reach of the hatches, were 

 six hundred kegs of gunpowder. 



We had a valuable addition to our party in Dr. 

 Cabot, of Boston, who accompanied us as an ama- 

 teur, particularly as an ornithologist. Besides him, 

 our only fellow-passenger was Mr. Camerden, who 

 went out as supercargo. 



The first morning out we woke with an extraor- 

 dinary odour of turpentine, giving us apprehensions 

 that a barrel had sprung a leak, which, by means of 

 the cotton, might use up our gunpowder before it 

 came to the hands of its consignee. This odour, 

 however, was traced to a marking-pot, which quiet- 

 ed our apprehensions. 



On the evening of the fourth day we had a severe 

 thunder-storm. This was an old acquaintance of 

 ours in the tropics, but one which at that time we 

 were not disposed to welcome very cordially. Peals 



