contemplation of the sea and sky tended to inspire us with a faint conception of that Almighty Power by whose fiat they sprang into existence!—It was by no means an uninteresting scene, to behold three small boats, in the wide ocean, crowded with human beings, apparently at the dubious mercy of the winds and waves, offering up their prayers and supplications to Him, "who is the confidence of the ends of all the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea."
At noon, the latitude, by observation, was 10° 41' south, and longitude 137° 56' east. We continued our course, still favoured by pleasant weather, and the billow-smoothing breeze. On Monday afternoon we were visited by an immense shoal of dolphins, which accompanied us for some time, whose swift and varied evolutions tended to relieve the dull and dreary scene, although their appearance boded no good to us. The mighty leviathans were also this evening disporting in their boundless domain; and we beheld their unwieldy and terrific gambols with fear and trembling, but fortunately we escaped unscathed.
The weather, which had hitherto been so propitious, now began to assume a threatening aspect; as the night advanced, the wind became baffling, slight showers of rain fell, and the darkness was so intense, that we lost sight of the other boats, although they were at no great distance from us. We hoisted a light, hoping that they might thereby be enabled to keep company, and held on our way.
