bear up and run for
Buenos Ayres for supplies.

CHAPTER XI.

Behold
The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,
Bounding between the two moist elements,
Like Perseus' horse.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

It was on a fine Sunday morning, in the month of December, 179-, that
the oblique beams of the sun were reflected back by the snow white
canvass of a stately ship of about six hundred tons, that with a fair
wind, a good breeze, and all sail set, was steadily pursuing her course,
somewhat east of north. She was in, or about, the latitude of eighteen
north, and one hundred and fifteen degrees west of Greenwich;
consequently, she was in the Pacific Ocean, and not far from the west
coast of Mexico. The north-east trade-wind, which is generally almost
due east, was sufficiently _free_ to allow her to carry her starboard
studding-sails, under which she flew gracefully and swiftly on her
appointed course.

The weather, as usual within the limits of either trade-wind, was
extremely beautiful and mild; the heat, that on shore in the same
latitude would have been excessive, was moderated by the refreshing
breeze. Indeed, it has never been my lot to find such lovely weather in
any other part of this round world, as we meet with through the whole
course of the trade winds. The long, regular swell, so peculiar to that
part of the ocean, gave the noble ship a peculiarly easy, rolling
motion, extremely grateful to a seaman, as the regularity and length of
the swell is a certain indication of a continuance of good weather. As
she lifted her huge bows above the foaming, sparkling wave, her bright
copper, polished by dashing so long and so fast through the water,
flashed in the sunbeams like burnished gold; at the same time, her
temporary and partial elevation above the surface, revealed a sharpness
of model below the water's edge, that at once accounted for the graceful
and majestic swiftness of her motion. The whiteness of her canvass, and
her bright-varnished sides, sufficiently indicated her to be a Yankee,
without the trouble of hoisting the "gridiron."

Her stern "flared" a great deal; that is, its outline formed a very
acute angle with the horizon, which was the fashion of building ships
forty years since. It was ornamented with a great profusion of carved
work, some of which was hieroglyphical, to a degree that would have
pu