ing motion and fared well enough; but on nearing the
edge of the stream a confused sea was met with, standing all on end, in
every which way, beyond a sailor's comprehension. The motion of the
_Liberdade_ was then far from poetical or pleasant. The wind, in the
meantime, had chopped round to the nor'east, dead ahead; being thus
against the current, a higher and more confused sea than ever was heaped
up, giving us some uneasiness. We had, indeed, several unwelcome
visitors come tumbling aboard of our craft, one of which furiously
crashing down on her made all of her timbers bend and creak. However, I
could partially remedy this danger by changing the course.

"Seas like that can't break this boat," said our young boatswain; "she's
built strong." It was well to find among the crew this feeling of
assurance in the gallant little vessel. I, too, was confident in her
seaworthiness. Nevertheless, I shortened sail and brought her to the
wind, watching the lulls and easing her over the combers, as well as I
could. But wrathful Neptune was not to let us so easily off, for the
next moment a sea swept clean over the helmsman, wetting him through to
the skin and, most unkind cut of all, it put out our fire, and capsized
the hash and stove into the bottom of the canoe. This left us with but a
_damper_ for breakfast! Matters mended, however, as the day advanced,
and for supper we had a grand and glorious feast. Early in the afternoon
we made the land and got into smooth water. This of itself was a feast,
to our minds.

The land we now saw lying before us was hills of America, which we had
sailed many thousands of miles to see. Drawing in with the coast, we
made out, first the broad, rich forests, then open fields and villages,
with many signs of comfort on every hand. We found it was the land about
Bull's Bay on the coast of South Carolina, and night coming on, we could
plainly see Cape Roman Light to the north of us. The wind falling light
as we drew in with the coast, and finding a current against us, we
anchored, about two miles from the shore, in four fathoms of water. It
was now 8 p.m., October 28, 1888, thirteen days from Mayaguez,
twenty-one days from Barbadoes, etc.

The following was the actual time at sea and distances in nautical miles
from point to point on the courses steered, approximately:

_Days._ _ Distance._

From Paranagua to Santos 1 150
" Santos to Rio de Ja