Friday, August 26th. The wind and weather fair, till night came on; and then the wind came about, and we had hard squalls, with rain and lightning, till morning. Saturday, August 27th.-Cleared up this morning, and the wind settled westerly. Two dolphins followed us this afternoon; we hooked one, and struck the other with the fizgig; but they both escaped us, and we saw them no more. Sunday, August 28th. The wind still continues westerly, and blows hard. We are under a reefed mainsail and foresail. - Monday, August 29th.—Wind still hard west. Two dolphins followed us this day; we struck at them, but they both escaped. Tuesday, August 30th. — Contrary wind still. This evening, the moon being near full, as she rose after eight o'clock, there appeared a rainbow in a western cloud, to windward of us. The first time I ever saw a rainbow in the night, caused by the moon. Wednesday, August 31st.-Wind still west; nothing remark able. Thursday, September 1st. - Bad weather, and contrary winds. Friday, September 2d. This morning the wind changed; a little fair. We caught a couple of dolphins, and fried them for dinner. They tasted tolerably well. These fish make a glorious appearance in the water; their bodies are of a bright green, mixed with a silver color, and their tails of a shining golden yellow; but all this vanishes presently after they are taken out of their element, and they change all over to a light gray. I observed that cutting off pieces of a just-caught, living dolphin for baits, those pieces did not lose their lustre and fine colors when the dolphin died, but retained them perfectly. Every one takes notice of that vulgar error of the painters, who always represent this fish monstrously crooked and deformed, when it is, in reality, as beautiful and well-shaped a fish as any that swims. I cannot think what could be the original of this chimera of theirs, since there is not a creature in nature that in the least resembles their dolphin, unless it proceeded at first from a false imitation of a fish in the posture of leaping, which they have since improved into a crooked monster, with a head and eyes like a bull, a hog's snout, and a tail like a blown tulip. But the sailors give me another reason, though a whimsical one, viz. that, as this most beautiful fish is only to be caught at sea, and that very far to the southward, they say the painters wilfully deform it in their representations, lest pregnant women should long for what it is impossible to procure for them. Saturday, September 3d; Sunday, 4th; Monday, 5th. — Wind still westerly; nothing remarkable. Tuesday, September 6th. This afternoon, the wind, still continuing in the same quarter, increased till it blew a storm, and raised the sea to a greater height than I had ever seen it before. Wednesday, September 7th. The wind is somewhat abated, but the sea is very high still. A dolphin kept us company all this afternoon; we struck at him several times, but could not take him. Thursday, September 8th. This day nothing remarkable has happened. Contrary wind. Friday, September 9th.· This afternoon we took four large dolphins, three with a hook and line, and the fourth we struck with a fizgig. The bait was a candle with two feathers stuck in it, one on each side, in imitation of a flying-fish, which are the common prey of the dolphins. They appeared extremely eager and hungry, and snapped up the hook as soon as ever it touched the water. When we came to open them, we found in the belly of one a small dolphin, half-digested. Certainly they were halffamished, or are naturally very savage, to devour those of their own species. Saturday, September 10th. This day we dined upon the dolphins we caught yesterday, three of them sufficing the whole ship, being twenty-one persons. - Sunday, September 11th. We have had a hard gale of wind all this day, accompanied with showers of rain. "T is uncomfortable being upon deck; and, though we have been all together all day below, yet the long continuance of these contrary winds has made us so dull, that scarce three words have passed between us. Monday, September 12th; Tuesday, 13th.-Nothing remarkable; wind contrary. Wednesday, September 14th. This afternoon, about two o'clock, it being fair weather and almost calm, as we sat playing drafts upon deck, we were surprised with a sudden and unusual darkness of the sun, which, as we could perceive, was only covered with a small, thin cloud; when that was passed by, we discovered that that glorious luminary labored under a very great eclipse. At least ten parts out of twelve of him were hid from our eyes, and we were apprehensive he would have been totally darkened. Thursday, September 15th. For a week past, we have fed ourselves with the hopes, that the change of the moon (which was yesterday) would bring us a fair wind; but, to our great mortification and disappointment, the wind seems now settled in the westward, and shows as little signs of an alteration as it did a fortnight ago. Friday, September 16th. Calm all this day. This morning we saw a tropic bird, which flew round our vessel several times. It is a white fowl, with short wings; but one feather appears in his tail, and he does not fly very fast. We reckon ourselves about half our voyage; latitude 38 and odd minutes. These birds are said never to be seen further north than the latitude of 40. Saturday, September 17th. All the forenoon the calm continued; the rest of the day some light breezes easterly; and we are in great hopes the wind will settle in that quarter. Sunday, September 18th. We have had the finest weather imaginable all this day, accompanied with what is still more agreeable, a fair wind. Every one puts on a clean shirt and a cheerful countenance, and we begin to be very good company. Heaven grant that this favorable gale may continue! for we have had so much of turning to windward, that the word helm-a-lee is become almost as disagreeable to our ears as the sentence of a judge to a convicted malefactor. Monday, September 19th. The weather looks a little uncertain, and we begin to fear the loss of our fair wind. We see tropic birds every day, sometimes five or six together; they are about as big as pigeons. Tuesday, September 20th.—The wind is now westerly again, to our great mortification; and we are come to an allowance of bread, two biscuits and a half a day. Wednesday, September 21st.-This morning our steward was brought to the geers and whipped, for making an extravagant use of flour in the puddings, and for several other misdemeanors. It has been perfectly calm all this day, and very hot. I was determined to wash myself in the sea to-day, and should have done so, had not the appearance of a shark, that mortal enemy to swimmers, deterred me; he seemed to be about five feet long, moves round the ship at some distance, in a slow, majestic manner, attended by near a dozen of those they call pilot-fish, of different sizes; the largest of them is not so big as a small mackerel, and the smallest not bigger than my little finger. Two of these diminutive pilots keep just before his nose, and he seems to govern himself in his motions by their direction; while the rest surround him on every side indifferently. A shark is never seen without 71 VOL. I. a retinue of these, who are his purveyors, discovering and distinguishing his prey for him; while he in return gratefully protects them from the ravenous, hungry dolphin. They are commonly counted a very greedy fish; yet this refuses to meddle with the bait thrown out for him. "T is likely he has lately made a full meal. Thursday, September 22d.- A fresh gale at west all this day. The shark has left us. My Friday, September 23d.—This morning we spied a sail to windward of us about two leagues. We showed our jack upon the ensign-staff, and shortened sail for them till about noon, when she came up with us. She was the Snow, from Dublin, bound to New York, having upwards of fifty servants on board, of both sexes; they all appeared upon deck, and seemed very much pleased at the sight of us. There is really something strangely cheering to the spirits in the meeting of a ship at sea, containing a society of creatures of the same species and in the same circumstances with ourselves, after we had been long separated and excommunicated as it were from the rest of mankind. heart fluttered in my breast with joy, when I saw so many human countenances, and I could scarce refrain from that kind of laughter, which proceeds from some degree of inward pleasure. When we have been for a considerable time tossing on the vast waters, far from the sight of any land or ships, or any mortal creature but ourselves (except a few fish and sea-birds), the whole world, for aught we know, may be under a second deluge, and we, like Noah and his company in the ark, the only surviving remnant of the human race. The two captains have mutually promised to keep each other company; but this I look upon to be only matter of course, for, if ships are unequal in their sailing, they seldom stay for one another, especially strangers. This afternoon, the wind, that had been so long contrary to us, came about to the eastward, (and looks as if it would hold,) to our no small satisfaction. I find our messmates in a better humor, and more pleased with their present condition, than they have been since they came out; which I take to proceed from the contemplation of the miserable circumstances of the passengers on board our neighbour, and making the comparison. We reckon ourselves in a kind of paradise, when we consider how they live, confined and stifled up with such a lousy, stinking rabble, in this sultry latitude. Saturday, September 24th.- Last night we had a very high wind, and very thick weather; in which we lost our consort. This morning early we spied a sail ahead of us, which we took to be her; but presently after we spied another, and then we plainly perceived, that neither of them could be the Snow; for one of them stemmed with us, and the other bore down directly upon us, having the weather-gage of us. As the latter drew near, we were a little surprised, not knowing what to make of her; for, by the course she steered, she did not seem designed for any port, but looked as if she intended to clap us aboard immediately. I could perceive concern in every face on board; but she presently eased us of our apprehensions by bearing away astern of us. When we hoisted our jack, she answered with French colors, and presently took them down again; and we soon lost sight of her. The other ran by us in less than half an hour, and answered our jack with an English ensign; she stood to the eastward, but the wind was too high to speak with either of them. About nine o'clock we spied our consort, who had got a great way ahead of us. She, it seems, had made sail during the night, while we lay by, with our mainyard down, during the hard gale. She very civilly shortened sail for us, and this afternoon we came up with her; and now we are running along very amicably together, side by side, having a most glorious fair wind. "On either side the parted billows flow, While the black ocean foams and roars below." Sunday, September 25th. — Last night we shot ahead of our consort pretty far. About midnight, having lost sight of each other, we shortened sail for them; but this morning they were got as far ahead of us as we could see, having run by us in the dark unperceived. We made sail and came up with them about noon; and, if we chance to be ahead of them again in the night, we are to show them a light, that we may not lose company by any such accident for the future. The wind still continues fair, and we have made a greater run these last four-and-twenty hours than we have done since we came out. All our discourse, now, is of Philadelphia, and we begin to fancy ourselves on shore already. Yet a small change of weather, attended by a westerly wind, is sufficient to blast all our blooming hopes, and quite spoil our present good humor. Monday, September 26th. The wind continued fair all night. In the twelve o'clock watch our consort, who was about a league ahead of us, showed us a light, and we answered with another. About six o'clock this morning we had a sudden hurry of wind |