the stoutest bamboo that
Mrs. Stevenson had given me at Samoa. The spinnaker pulled like a
sodger, and the bamboo holding its own, the _Spray_ mended her pace.

Several pigeons flying across to-day from Australia toward the islands
bent their course over the _Spray_. Smaller birds were seen flying in
the opposite direction. In the part of the Arafura that I came to
first, where it was shallow, sea-snakes writhed about on the surface
and tumbled over and over in the waves. As the sloop sailed farther
on, where the sea became deep, they disappeared. In the ocean, where
the water is blue, not one was ever seen.

In the days of serene weather there was not much to do but to read and
take rest on the _Spray_, to make up as much as possible for the rough
time off Cape Horn, which was not yet forgotten, and to forestall the
Cape of Good Hope by a store of ease. My sea journal was now much the
same from day to day-something like this of June 26 and 27, for
example:

June 26, in the morning, it is a bit squally; later in, the day
blowing a steady breeze.

On the log at noon is
130 miles
_Subtract_ correction for slip 10 "
---------
120 "
_Add_ for current 10 "
--------
130 "

Latitude by observation at noon, 10 degrees 23' S.
Longitude as per mark on the chart.

There wasn't much brain-work in that log, I'm sure. June 27 makes a
better showing, when all is told:

First of all, to-day, was a flying-fish on deck; fried it in butter.

133 miles on the log.

For slip, off, and for current, on, as per guess, about equal--let it
go at that.

Latitude by observation at noon, 10 degrees 25' S.

For several days now the _Spray_ sailed west on the parallel of 10
degrees 25' S., as true as a hair. If she deviated at all from that,
through the day or night,--and this may have happened,--she was back,
strangely enough, at noon, at the same latitude. But the greatest
science was in reckoning the longitude. My tin clock and only
timepiece had by this time lost its minute-hand, but after I boiled
her she told the hours, and that was near enough on a long stretch.

On the 2d of July the great island of Timor was in view away to the
nor'ard. On the following day I saw Dana Island, not far of