ing the
chafing main beats down its wild roaring breakers, holds the crushed waves in fierce embrace while yet other howling gusts sweep over them, then relaxing, stirs up the levelled surface, smites the struggling streams into dust, and breaks the liberated waves into frag:;ments swirled off in suro^e-flakes into the leaden air.
As I have before remarked, the petty annoyances of travel try temper and discover the varying play of litj:ht and shade in character. Now a storm at sea tries men's souls, and discovers to each the measure of his manhood, of his faith, of his courage and cal- lousness; discovers to him the realities of his religion, if he has any, the poverty of his hopes if he has none. And like all phenomena throughout the realm of na- ture, there are no two human characters alike, and no two manifestations exactly similar under the influence of fear. In this instance, throughout the night, and during the greater part of the day, some slept and snored on, others lay awake in their berths, mute, and apparently indifferent, others, greatly frightened, clutched their beds and groaned. Some, throwing themselves upon their knees, poured forth petitions to unseen powers, now in dismal howls and now in intelligible prayer ; others were so smitten with cow- ard fear, so hopeless and helpless, as scarcely to know what they did, and mingling incoherent oaths and ex- clamations with their pitiful cries, they looked at each other and shuddered, clasped hands convulsively, gazed beseechingly upon the merciless ocean, and let fly their thoughts back to the home they had left and forward to the California their hopes had aspired to, and which now seemed a million of leagues away.
Not only did the storm severely tax the strength of the ship, but it made such inroads upon the scanty fuel that there was grreat dangler of our beingf left exposed powerless to the fury of the waves. Our captain therefore about noon this day, which was the 28th of Marchj came to anchor under the l
