SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
233 
the emperor of the French; places where, if in any situa¬ 
tion, the fleetingness of fortune, the unstableness of power, 
and the nothingness of glory, are brought home to men’s 
bosoms. The name of many a curious visitor is engraven 
on the walls of Napoleon’s house; and, mingled with these, 
there are lines of regret and of devotion, written in hands 
that show the writers to have been of that nation which he 
raised to its highest pitch of glory, and which, as it rose, so 
it sank with his fortunes. 
On the 28tli of January we left St. Helena, and on the 
27th of February we crossed the line, where we experienced 
nearly three days of calm; after which we continued our 
course, favoured by the north-east trade wind, until the 7th 
March, when one of those affecting incidents occurred which 
surpass in horrible interestall that invention has ever produced 
to move the sympathies of man. The morning was squally, 
but about noon it cleared up, and the ship’s place was as¬ 
certained to be in lat. 44° 18' JST. and long. 23° W. About 
4 o’clock r. m. a strange sail was reported, and though, from 
the haziness of the weather, she was but indistinctly seen, it 
was perceived that she was in distress. Our course was im¬ 
mediately altered, and we steered directly for her, being 
distant about nine miles. As we neared her, she proved 
to be in distress indeed: she was a complete wreck, and 
H 11 
