uous living cloud hovered above the deck, and excluded to a
certain extent the rays of light.

There being no mosquito bars attached to the berths in the forecastle,
the foretop was the only place in which I could procure a few hours
repose. There I took up my lodgings, and my rest was seldom disturbed
excepting occasionally by the visits of a few of the most venturous and
aspiring of the mosquito tribe, or a copious shower of rain.

An incident, IT WAS SAID, occurred on board a ship in the harbor, which,
if correctly stated, furnishes a striking proof of the countless myriads
of mosquitoes which abound in Para. One of the sailors, who occupied a
portion of the foretop as a sleeping room, unfortunately rolled over the
rim of the top one night while locked in the embraces of Somnus. He fell
to the deck, where he would inevitably have broken his neck were it not
for the dense body of mosquitoes, closely packed, which hovered over the
deck, awaiting their turn for a delicious banquet. This elastic body of
living insects broke Jack's fall, and let him down gently to the deck
without doing him harm.

Fortunately it was not necessary to tarry a long time in Para. We took
on board a cargo of cacao in bulk, and sailed on our return to Salem. As
we approached the coast of the United States we experienced much cloudy
weather, and for several days no opportunity offered for observing any
unusual phenomena in the heavens. But one pleasant evening, as we were
entering the South Channel, being on soundings south-east of Nantucket,
one of the crew, who was leaning over the lee gunwale, was struck with
the strange appearance of a star, which shone with unusual brilliancy,
and left a long, broad, and crooked wake behind.

His exclamation of surprise caused every eye to be directed to the spot,
about fifty-five degrees above the eastern horizon, pointed out by our
observing shipmate and there in full view, to the admiration of some and
the terror of others, the comet of 1811 stood confessed!

The men indulged in wild speculations respecting the character of this
mysterious visitor, but all concurred in the belief that it was the
messenger of a superior power, announcing the coming of some fearful
national evil, such as a terrible earthquake, a devastating pestilence,
or a fierce and bloody war. Our country was engaged in a war with a
powerful nation within the following year; but to those who watched the
signs of the times, and remem