mind. Ever and anon she must
needs rush from the tiller to take a parenthetical pull at the fore-
brace, the end of which led down to the bulwarks near by; then
refreshing herself with a draught or two of water and a biscuit, she
would continue to steer away, full of the importance of her office.
At any unusual flapping` of the sails, a violent stamping on deck
announced the fact to the startled crew. Finding her thus indefatigable,
I readily induced her to stand two watches to Jarl's and Samoa's one;
and when she was at the helm, I permitted myself to doze on a pile of
old sails, spread every evening on the quarter-deck.

It was the Skyeman, who often admonished me to "heave the ship to"
every night, thus stopping her headway till morning; a plan which,
under other circumstances, might have perhaps warranted the slumbers
of all. But as it was, such a course would have been highly
imprudent. For while making no onward progress through the
water, the rapid currents we encountered would continually be
drifting us eastward; since, contrary to our previous experience,
they seemed latterly to have reversed their flow, a phenomenon by no
means unusual in the vicinity of the Line in the Pacific. And this it
was that so prolonged our passage to the westward. Even in a moderate
breeze, I sometimes fancied, that the impulse of the wind little more
than counteracted the glide of the currents; so that with much show
of sailing, we were in reality almost a fixture on the sea.

The equatorial currents of the South Seas may be regarded as among
the most mysterious of the mysteries of the deep. Whence they come,
whither go, who knows? Tell us, what hidden law regulates their flow.
Regardless of the theory which ascribes to them a nearly uniform
course from east to west, induced by the eastwardly winds of the
Line, and the collateral action of the Polar streams; these currents
are forever shifting. Nor can the period of their revolutions be at
all relied upon or predicted.

But however difficult it may be to assign a specific cause for the
ocean streams, in any part of the world, one of the wholesome effects
thereby produced would seem obvious enough. And though the
circumstance here alluded to is perhaps known to every body, it may
be questioned, whether it is generally invested with the importance
it deserves. Reference is here made to the constant commingling and
purification of the sea-water by reason of the currents.

For, tha