red to be in some alarm; and
admitting that she was a better sailer than we, he called all the
passengers and crew on deck, the drum beat to quarters, and we feigned
to make preparations for combat.

It is well to observe that our vessel mounted ten pieces of cannon, and
was pierced for twenty; the forward port-holes were adorned with sham
guns. Whether it was our formidable appearance or no, at about ten A.M.
the stranger again changed her course, and we soon lost sight of her
entirely.

Nothing further remarkable occurred to us till the 22d, when we passed
the line in longitude 25 deg. 9". According to an ancient custom the crew
baptized those of their number who had never before crossed the
equator; it was a holyday for them on board. About two o'clock in the
afternoon we perceived a sail in the S.S.W. We were not a little
alarmed, believing that it was the same brig which we had seen some days
before; for it was lying to, as if awaiting our approach. We soon drew
near, and to our great joy discovered that she was a Portuguese; we
hailed her, and learned that she came from some part of South America,
and was bound to Pernambuco, on the coasts of Brazil. Very soon after we
began to see what navigators call the _Clouds of Magellan_: they are
three little white spots that one perceives in the sky almost as soon as
one passes the equator: they were situated in the S.S.W.

The 1st November, we began to see great numbers of aquatic birds. Toward
three o'clock P.M., we discovered a sail on our larboard, but did not
approach sufficiently near to speak her. The 3d, we saw two more sails,
making to the S.E. We passed the tropic of Capricorn on the 4th, with a
fine breeze, and in longitude 33 deg. 27". We lost the trade-winds, and as
we advanced south the weather became cold and rainy. The 11th, we had a
calm, although the swell was heavy. We saw several turtles, and the
captain having sent out the small boat, we captured two of them. During
the night of the 11th and 12th, the wind changed to the N.E., and raised
a terrible tempest, in which the gale, the rain, the lightning, and
thunder, seemed to have sworn our destruction; the sea appeared all
a-fire, while our little vessel was the sport of winds and waves. We
kept the hatches closed, which did not prevent us from passing very
uncomfortable nights while the storm lasted; for the great heats that we
had experienced between the tropics, had so opened the seams of the deck