50 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
>1 
These are the features of that squall. Our good ship 
reeled and trembled under the shock of the waters and 
winds, as if her planks and timbers were separating. 
Below at such a time was doubtless our safest berth, but 
that was far from being peculiarly comfortable ! About half 
of the passengers were on each side of the cabin, holding at 
the berths; and when the ship rose on a billow and careen- 
■ 
ed, it straightened those on the larboad side like lamprey- 
eels hanging to rocks; while, as the surge passed on, the 
ship careened the othey way, making eels of those on the 
starboad side ! The furniture tumbled, the steward giving 
chase fell in the midst of it; the Hawaiian lass attempted to 
gain her berth and fell; and tumult, danger, sublimity, and 
the ridiculous, united to provoke alternatively our laughter, 
fear and admiration. It cleared up in an hour, however, 
and we went on again pleasantly, under a three-knot breeze. 
On the evening of the 17th, we heard right gladly the 
cry of “ Land ho !” Where away?” u A little on the 
starboard bow !” I was in the cabin at the time. Any 
other word spoken with a greater volume of voice would 
have passed unheard. But land ! land ! the solid land ! 
with its odor of earth and flower, is a word which, if utter¬ 
ed in a whisper, has deep music for one who has for twenty 
odd days been stunned by contentious waves ; a sweetness 
and vigor of meaning to the weary wayfarer on the seas, 
which must be heard ,— u Land ahead.” 
Its winged messengers already twittered in the rigging ! 
The shores loomed on the edge of the horizon! The 
white cliffs on the north side of Monterey Bay, in Upper 
California, were in sight! We kept our course towards them 
till daylight-down, and then beat off and on till the dawn 
of the following morning. 
April \§th. The land, the glorious old land, is near us on 
our left—five miles away ! The cattle of the Mission Santa 
Cruz are grazing on the hill! The matin bells are ringing 
from its tower, and the arrowy light is routing the darkness 
