ys in the majority.
Enmities and friendships are formed with equal promptness and facility;
but however desirable it may be, there is no escaping the forced
companionship incident to life on shipboard, where ceremony is for the
time being mostly banished. Customs become established which would be
considered rather _outre_ upon land. Ennui has made more persons
reckless than has despair. Those individuals are comparatively few on
such occasions who have sufficient mental resource profitably to occupy
their minds, and those who have nothing to do quickly tire of themselves
and of all about them. If it were not for the decided breaks in the
routine of each day and evening afforded by the several meals, surely
suicides at sea would be frequent. One inevitable conclusion is sure to
be arrived at; namely, that a long sea-voyage is an infallible remedy
for over-fastidiousness and sickly sentimentality.

When we had been at sea about a week there was observed floating upon
the water a pale-gray, amber-like substance; it was not abundant, but to
the watchful eye seemed peculiar, and was several times apparent. This
our captain declared to be ambergris,--a substance originally found in
the intestines of the sperm whale, and believed to be produced there
only. Science declares it to be a diseased secretion of the animal,
probably induced by indigestion,--just as the pearl is a diseased
secretion of the Australian and Penang oysters. Ambergris is often found
floating about the shores of the Coral Sea and throughout the region
known as Australasia, having been ejected by the many whales frequenting
these latitudes. On the west coast of New Zealand the natives may
frequently be seen searching along the shore after a heavy gale, eagerly
securing more or less of the article. The "Zealandia," on her previous
voyage to that of which we are now writing, brought from Auckland to San
Francisco three boxes of ambergris weighing about one hundred pounds
each, the three boxes being invoiced at a valuation of thirty thousand
dollars. It is rarely that so much is imported into this country in a
twelvemonth. When first taken from the whale it is of a soft texture,
and is quite offensive to the smell; but after a brief exposure to the
air it rapidly hardens, and then emits a sweet, earthy odor, and is used
for the manufacture of the choicest perfumery, being nearly as
important for that purpose as the more costly musk.

The peculiar currents of t