CHAPTER III.

FROM RIO DE JANEIRO TO BUENOS AYRES.

FOR the first day or two we had very light winds, sometimes even calms, but that did not last long, though I found that I must not count on a quick passage of five or six days, as the wind became contrary; and on the 21st, a flying pampero turned the peaceful swelling ocean into a wild and roaring sea with mountainous waves, which tossed about our nut-shell of a vessel in the most alarming

manner.

The pampero-for I remember it too well not to say at least a few words about it—is a kind of periodical gale, which derives its name from the wide pampas or plains in the west and south-west, over which it blows, gaining force and power the farther it proceeds. The first sign of a pampero is generally a sharp north wind, which changes gradually more and more to the west, and hardly has the wind gained this point, when a heavy rain sets

in, and with this comes the first squall-the first puff of the pampero. So abruptly does this sometimes happen, and so rapidly does the wind, in such a case, fly round the compass, that many a ship, whose captain has been ignorant of the premonitory signs, has lost her masts, before a sail could be reefed or taken in, and not a few have been wrecked on the low and treacherous banks of the wide and desolate river. When the fury of the pampero has been expended, the wind commonly changes towards the north, or south-east, and at the same time becomes more moderate.

On the 26th, getting in sight of the northern shore, we observed some low hills in the distance, and on the 27th, made the Island of Lobos, socalled from the immense quantity of seals that frequent its shores. We saw hundreds of these animals in the water, and the captain, who wanted a few skins, offered to let down the boat if I would endeavour to kill some. A few minutes later we were in full chase, and I shot eight without capturing one. As quick as they were struck by the ball, they rose out of the water and showed their bleeding skulls, but sunk before we could get near enough to lay hold of them. At last I shot one in the neck, and it struck furiously about in the water, giving us time to come near and seize one of its fins.

There had been a dead calm the whole after

noon, and the weather as fine and warm as we could wish, but we had hardly got the seal on board the boat, when we heard the speakingtrumpet of the captain, hailing us to return. Knowing directly that there was something amiss, we pulled back as hard as we could, and then found that the barometer had fallen in such a way as to give a fair promise for another pampero. The sailors, indeed, had just taken in the light canvas, reefed the topsails, and made everything snug, when the pampero came with a vengeance. We could hear it roar over the waters, from afar. In a few minutes, and before it had even time to blow very hard, the wind changed over to the west, and a quarter of an hour afterwards, we had as fine a pampero again, with a perfect deluge of rain, as heart could wish for. The storm howled through the rigging, and whistled through the blocks, while the few yards of canvas given to the wind, were stretched to the utmost, so that we had to lose no time in taking them in. At the same time, the sea rose, but the storm had so much power that it clipped the waves as soon as they lifted their heads above the level of the main rolling sea, carrying the white and glittering spray away with it.

Before night set in, that small island we had made in the morning, had long sunk below the

VOL. I.

C

horizon, and we were drifting on the open sea back again.

The storm raged all night—the rain splashed, the sea washed on deck, and the little vessel got so unruly, that I was twice pitched out of my berth. The next day there was very little difference. At table the plates jumped about like living things; no spoonful of soup could be considered safe until it was swallowed, and if you wanted both hands to eat with, you wanted, at the same time, both legs to hold on by. It was a miserable day, and, to console us, the wind blew right in our teeth, and drove us steadily to leeward.

On the second day of the pampero we beheld a most singular spectacle, which I shall never forget. A high sea was running, and the howling west wind lashed the waves furiously, while the small, but heavily-laden craft worked up and down, sometimes butting her head right against a perfect mass of seething foam, which made her tremble down to her bottom, sometimes rising again into the arms of another roller, when the voice of a sailorboy directed my attention to an object ahead. The little fellow, who was as pale as a ghost, stretched out his one hand towards the sea, and following the direction indicated, I perceived a large wooden cross, which swam on the waves,

and, raised up by the rolling sea, at this very minute stood nearly upright, not twenty yards before the bow of the vessel. The next minute it disappeared among the foaming waters, which swept it past, but in a few seconds it stood up again, this time half-covered by the wave, and then it disappeared.

Fortunately we had no priest on board, or he would certainly have seen a dreadful warning in such a sign. As it was, some of the sailors did. not half like it, and looked rather gloomily after the swimming piece of wood.

Where it came from it would be difficult to imagine, but probably it had been washed away from a grave-yard, or from some secluded spot close to the beach, where in former times a corpse had been washed ashore, and buried where it was found.

The captain reckoned on a south wind coming after the pampero, and in this expectation hugged rather close the right shore of the Plate River, just below the Punta de Piedras, which juts far out towards the east. But instead of a south wind, we got a real honest north-easter, and were now stuck in a corner, and could not get out. Hence we had to crawl on short tacks slowly and tediously up to the Punta del Indio, opposite to which a light-ship was moored at that time, and I really believe even up