ves, and others had not fully recovered from
the effects of the fever. Mr. Ricker was the only person on board, with
the exception of myself, who had entirely escaped. Whether drunkenness
acted, in his case, as a preventive, I will not undertake to say;
neither will I advise any one to try the hazardous experiment.

We were now in sight of the Isle of Pines, fourteen days having elapsed
since we sailed from Martinico, when I observed indications of one of
those severe gales not unusual in the Gulf of Mexico and vicinity, and
known at "northers." Light-handed as we were, and without an efficient
head, I was aware that our situation was a critical one. I then felt
justified in doing what I should have done sooner; I threw overboard
every drop of spirit I could find, and then applied myself to rouse Mr.
'Ricker from his drunken inactivity; I explained to him my apprehensions
of a gale of wind, and the necessity for making preparation for the
coming tempest. This brought him to his senses; and after grumbling
somewhat at the loss of his liquor, and taking a deep draught of water,
he entered with energy on the sphere of his duties.

Ricker was a man of large stature and great physical strength. He was
also a thorough seaman, and, when not stupefied with liquor, was an
active, energetic man. By his powerful aid, and under his direction, the
brig was soon put in a condition to withstand the heavy gale from the
north, which soon came upon us, and completely ventilated the steerage
and cabin, which had so long been the depository of a pestilential
atmosphere. The "norther" lasted two days, the greater part of which
time we were lying to, under a close-reefed main-topsail; and when the
gale abated, we found ourselves further north than at its commencement,
and not far from Cape St. Antonio, the western extremity of Cuba, a fact
which illustrates in a striking manner, the force of the current
which at certain times sets north, like a sluice-way, between Cuba and
Yucatan, into the Gulf of Mexico, and is the origin of the Gulf Stream.

We entered the Gulf of Mexico, and with a fair breeze sailed for
"the Balize." In a few days we struck soundings near the mouth of the
Mississippi, and soon fell in with the turbid waters that are swept
far out to sea by the strength of the current of that mighty river.
We steered for a lighthouse, constructed of granite, on the eastern
extremity of a point, and which, resting on a quagmire, was hard