ot been for the promptness of a forecastle man, who
seizing a bucket of water, opportunely standing near him on the
topgallant forecastle, dashed it down the funnel, preventing the flames
from communicating with the foresail, and thus probably saved the ship.

Of all the numerous accidents to which a man-of-war is so peculiarly
liable, that of destruction by fire is most likely to occur, and
requires the strictest discipline to guard against; for this are
established certain hours for smoking, and a stated period at night for
the extinguishing of all lights; so that after ten o'clock the peopled
ship speeds on her way, over the dark bosom of the heaving billows, with
only the light in the binnacle to show her course upon the illuminated
card, and the well-secured lamp in the cabin, by which her commander,
anxious and unsleeping, traces her track along the corrected chart.

Upon the tenth day of March, Sunday, at seven bells in the last dog
watch, we came to anchor in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro, off the town
known generally by the name of the river, but originally called San
Sebastian. After forty days at sea, the exact time made by the first
voyageur, Noah, we were as anxious as he might be supposed to have been,
to escape from his menagerie; for take it as you will, you will find
Emerson's "Experience" to agree with yours in this respect, however you
may differ from him in others, when he states in his essay with that
title (which essay, par parenthesis, I was compelled to swallow in
hospital for want of better mental aliment), that, "Every ship is a
romantic object, except the one you sail in,--embark, and the romance
quits your vessel, and hangs on every other sail in the horizon."

After, as I have said, this period of probation, in a vessel crowded
almost to the extent of Noah's, and whose crew bore some resemblance to
his, if one might judge from the _growls_ on board--the prospect of a
trip to the shore, fresh provender and iced drinks was delicious,
especially as the Hotel of Pharoux had been so repeatedly extolled
during the passage as a horn of plenty, abounding in delicacies, and our
mouths had been so often made to water upon many a "banyan day," by the
luscious descriptions of those who had on former occasions the happiness
to have indulged therein. But alas! for human hopes and expectations;

"L'homme propose, et Dieu dispose!"

For early on the next morning, after getting out the boats, and makin