X 
398 VOYAGE OP THE POTOMAC. [July, 
a machine it is, without the winds. And the same power which 
propels the noble frigate, or with equal ease a nation's fleet, 
disdains not to waft the fisherman's boat to the scene of his pa- 
tient toil, and back to his humble dwelling ; and refuses not its 
aid to the savage, as he plies his light canoe among the ever-green 
islands of the tropic seas ! 
Thus widely connected with human business and interests, 
how deeply are the winds united with human affections and sym- 
pathies ! How sinks the heart of maid or wife as the wind sets 
in, which is to bear brother, lover, or husband, farther, and still 
farther from her presence ; and how beats the same true heart 
while the wind is blowing which is bearing brother, lover, or 
husband, nearer, and still nearer, to the fond hearts that sigh for 
his return! The tender, affectionate, and anxious wife, whose 
husband is tossed on the far-distant billow,, how swells and throbs 
her fond and gentle heart, when the hoarse singing of the midnight 
blast salutes her ear ! Oh, bless and protect him, gracious 
Heaven, and in thine own good time restore him ! The virtuous 
affection which glows in her bosom, is but an emanation from 
Thee, the fountain of light and love. 
Every breeze that passes over the land is commissioned with 
a thousand kind and tender wishes to the sea ; and every loud 
blast is burdened with anxious fears and earnest prayers. The 
storm that rises at night awakes many a parent to think, till the 
day dawns, of the son who is perhaps exposed to its fury, and to 
commend his keeping to One " whom the winds and seas obey." 
Are there not friends, in our own loved homes, thus thinking of us ? 
Blessings on their heads ! And may every zephyr that breathes, 
and every wind that blows, bear to them only health, good tidings, 
and peace ! 
Winged onward by the same great moving agent of which we 
have been speaking, the Potomac, after having passed, through 
the Bashee Straits and gained the northeast trade, as before men- 
tioned, shaped her course across the vast Pacific. Nothing of 
interest or importance occurred during a rather unpleasant passage 
of fifty days, when she approached the Sandwich Islands, on the 
evening of the twenty-third July. " Land on the weather-bow," 
shouted a hoarse voice from the mast-head. It was the Island of 
Oahu. 
