helmsman led me to the side of the vessel, and told me to hold my
head overboard, and inhale the air. I breathed a most beautiful
perfume of flowers. I looked round in astonishment, and imagined
that I must already be able to see the land: it was, however, still
far distant, the soft perfume being merely drifted to us by the
wind. It was very remarkable that inside the ship this perfume was
not at all perceptible.

The sea itself was covered with innumerable dead butterflies and
moths, which had been carried out to sea by the storm. Two pretty
little birds, quite exhausted by their long flight, were resting
upon one of the yards.

For us, who, during two months and a half, had seen nothing but sky
and water, all these things were most satisfactory; and we looked
out anxiously for Cape Frio, which we were very near. The horizon,
however, was lowering and hazy, and the sun had not force enough to
tear the murky veil asunder. We looked forward with joy to the next
morning, but during the night were overtaken by another storm, which
lasted until 2 o'clock. The ship's course was changed, and she was
driven as far as possible into the open sea; so that, in the end, we
were glad enough to reach, the next day, the same position we had
occupied the morning before.

Today we caught no glimpse of land; but a few gulls and albatrosses
from Cape Frio warned us that we were near it, and afforded us some
little amusement. They swam close up to the ship's side, and
eagerly swallowed every morsel of bread or meat that was thrown to
them. The sailors tried to catch some with a hook and line, and
were fortunate enough to succeed. They were placed upon the deck,
and, to my great surprise, I perceived that they were unable to
raise themselves from it. If we touched them, they merely dragged
themselves, with great difficulty, a few paces further, although
they could rise very easily from the surface of the water, and fly
extremely high.

One of the gentlemen was exceedingly anxious to kill and stuff one
of them, but the superstition of the sailors was opposed to this.
They said that if birds were killed on board ship, their death would
be followed by long calms. We yielded to their wishes and restored
the little creatures to the air and waves, their native elements.

This was another proof that superstition is still deep-rooted in the
minds of sailors. Of this we had afterwards many other instances.
The captain, for exam