So Much For Our Petition For The Redress Of Grievances.
The Matter Was However Set Right, For The Mate, After
Allowing the
captain due time to cool off, explained it to him, and at night we
were all called aft
To hear another harangue, in which, of course,
the whole blame of the misunderstanding was thrown upon us. We ventured
to hint that he would not give us time to explain; but it wouldn't do.
We were driven back discomforted. Thus the affair blew over, but the
irritation caused by it remained; and we never had peace or a good
understanding again so long as the captain and crew remained together.
We continued sailing along in the beautiful temperate climate of
the Pacific. The Pacific well deserves its name, for except in the
southern part, at Cape Horn, and in the western parts, near the
China and Indian oceans, it has few storms, and is never either
extremely hot or cold. Between the tropics there is a slight haziness,
like a thin gauze, drawn over the sun, which, without obstructing or
obscuring the light, tempers the heat which comes down with perpendicular
fierceness in the Atlantic and Indian tropics. We sailed well to the
westward to have the full advantage of the north-east trades, and when
we had reached the latitude of Point Conception, where it is usual to
make the land, we were several hundred miles to the westward of it.
We immediately changed our course due east, and sailed in that direction
for a number of days.
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