In The First Place, It Was A Beautiful Day, And So Warm That We Had
On Straw Hats, Duck Trowsers,
And all the summer gear; and as this
was mid-winter, it spoke well for the climate; and we afterwards
Found that the thermometer never fell to the freezing-point throughout
the winter, and that there was very little difference between the
seasons, except that during a long period of rainy and south-easterly
weather, thick clothes were not uncomfortable.
The large bay lay about us, nearly smooth, as there was hardly a
breath of wind stirring, though the boat's crew who went ashore told
us that the long ground swell broke into a heavy surf upon the beach.
There was only one vessel in the port - a long, sharp brig of about
300 tons, with raking masts and very square yards, and English colors
at her peak. We afterwards learned that she was built at Guayaquil,
and named the Ayacucho, after the place where the battle was fought
that gave Peru her independence, and was now owned by a Scotchman
named Wilson, who commanded her, and was engaged in the trade between
Callao, the Sandwich Islands, and California. She was a fast sailer,
as we frequently afterwards perceived, and had a crew of Sandwich
Islanders on board. Beside this vessel there was no object to break
the surface of the bay. Two points ran out as the horns of the crescent,
one of which - the one to the westward - was low and sandy, and is that
to which vessels are obliged to give a wide berth when running out
for a south-easter; the other is high, bold, and well wooded, and,
we were told, has a mission upon it, called St. Buenaventura, from which
the point is named.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 87 of 618
Words from 23523 to 23822
of 170236
