The general result was to emphasize the design of
speed under steam, and the use of sails with a fresh, fair wind only;
a distinct, if partial, abandonment of the "auxiliary" steam reliance
which so far had governed naval development. It may be added that the
shorter and lighter masts, by a common optical effect, increased the
impression of the vessel's length and swiftness, as was the case with
the old-time sailing-frigate when her lofty topgallant-masts were down
on deck.

Under sail alone the _Iroquois_ could never accomplish anything,
except with a fair wind. We played with her at times, on the wind and
tacking, but she simply slid off to leeward--never fetched near where
she looked. Consonant with the expedient of using sails where the wind
served, the screw could be disconnected from its shaft and hoisted;
held in position, clear of the water, by iron pawls. In this way the
hinderance of its submerged drag upon the speed of the ship was
obviated. We did this on occasions, when we could reckon on a long
period of favorable breezes; but it was a troublesome and somewhat
anxious operation. The chance of a slip was not great, but the
possibility was unpleasant to contemplate. When I add that for
armament we carried one 100-pounder rifled gun on a pivot, and four
9-inch smooth-bore shell guns--these being the naval piece which for
the most part fought the War of Secession, then just closed--I shall
have given the principal distinguishing features of a class of vessel
which did good service in its day, and is now a much of the past as is
the Spanish Armada. Yet it is only forty years since.

After being frozen up and snowed under, during a very bitter and
boisterous January, we at last got to sea, and soon ran into warmer
weather. Our first stop was at the French West India island
Guadeloupe, and there I had set for me amusingly that key-note of
travelling experience which most have encountered. I was dining at a
cafe, and after dinner got into conversation with an officer of the
garrison. I asked him some question about the wet weather then
reigning. "C'est exceptionnel," he replied; and exceptional we found
it "from Dan to Beersheba." At our next port, Ciara, there was drought
when every resident said it should have rained constantly--a variation
a stranger could endure; while at Rio it was otherwise peculiar--"the
warmest April in years." The currents all ran contrary to the books,
and the winds which should have b