essions.

We soon sighted the Island of Fernando Norouha which is a penal
settlement for the convicts of Brazil. This island is about six miles
in circumference and two thousand and twenty feet high. It had a
rocky barren appearance with nothing to be seen but a few birds
around it. About thirty miles from this island are the Martin Van
Rocks, three hundred feet high. In the south Atlantic we sighted the
group of Tristan Da Cunha Islands which had a very gloomy, foggy
look. Tristan is inhabited by English people and I have been told
that the women are particularly handsome there. In this region it is
very chilly and damp and though the thermometer stood at fifty-five
degrees it seemed much colder. At this time we began to prepare for
the heavy weather of our Easting, as the run across the Indian Ocean
is called. New sails were bent and everything battened down. The days
were very short, the sun rising at about half past seven and setting
at five o'clock. We usually made the run about forty degrees south in
order to get better winds. What a dreary outlook it was! Nothing but
sky and water with waves which were mountains high. The only bit of
life outside of our ship's company was a number of birds of a
different nature from any I had ever seen and they followed the ship
day after day. Cape pigeons and albatross were in large numbers. We
caught many of the latter and measured them. I remember one weighing
thirty pounds and measuring fifteen feet from tip to tip of the
wings. Cape hens about as large as good sized turkeys, ice birds, and
many other small birds. I enjoyed feeding them and it was very funny
to watch them tumble over each other in their efforts to get
something to eat. Such a noise as they did make with their
squabblings! Many sharks were caught and I never knew a sailor to
have any compunctions about disposing of these man-eating creatures.
A shark line was towed astern at different times and one day it took
the combined efforts of five men to haul one in. Whales, all of
ninety feet in length, stayed about the ship several days at a time.
We saw many sun-fish which are a light gray in color. They have one
large fin out of the water and are very hard to harpoon.

Once in a while another ship would come in view and if near enough
we always spoke to one another by our flag code. This was always an
interesting event. Certain sentences given in the code book would be
represented by certain flags, each flag repr