The morning passed away, and a little after twelve o'clock the water
in the south was darkened by the brushing of a wind, which drove the
hovering masses of vapour before it; and presently they had totally
disappeared, leaving a sky with rents and yawns of blue in places, and
a clear glass-like circle of horizon, upon which, however, there was
nothing to be seen. The boat moved slowly before the wind, which blew
hot as a desert breeze; I steered, and Jackson and Fallows sat near
me, one or the other from time to time getting on to a thwart to take
a view of the ocean, under the sharp of his hand.
In this fashion passed the afternoon. The night came with a deal of
fire in the water, and a very clear moon floating in lagoons of velvet
softness betwixt the clouds. The weather continued quiet; the long
swell made a pleasant cradle of the boat, and the night-wind being
full of dew, breathed refreshingly upon our hot cheeks; whilst our
ears were soothed by the rippling noise of the running waters which
seemed to cool the senses, as the breeze did the body.
It was almost a dead calm, however, at daybreak next morning. The
atmosphere was close and heavy, and there was a strange strong smell
of seaweed, rising off the ocean, which caused me to look narrowly
about, with some dim dream of perceiving land, though I should have
known there was no land for leagues and leagues.
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