Part 7 (1/2)

The greatest drawback I saw in the island was the want of a school A class there would necessarily be s and quietude life on Juan Fernandez would, for a li of May 5, 1896, I sailed fros, but on nothing sweeter than the adventure itself of a visit to the home and to the very cave of Robinson Crusoe

Fro the island of St Felix before she gained the trade-winds, which see their limits

If the trades were tardy, however, when they did co, and made up for lost time; and the _Spray_, under reefs, soreat many days, with a bone in her mouth, toward the Marquesas, in the west, which, she

My ti at the helm; no man, I think, could stand or sit and steer a vessel round the world: I did better than that; for I sat and read my books, mended my clothes, or cooked my meals and ate theood to be alone, and so I made companionshi+p hat there was around me, sonificant self; butcould be easier or e in the trade-winds

I sailed with a free wind day after day,the position of my shi+p on the chart with considerable precision; but this was done by intuition, I think, more than by slavish calculations For one whole month my vessel held her course true; I had not, the while, so ht in the binnacle The Southern Cross I saw every night abea it went down ahead I wished for no other couideafter a long ti the clock aloft ht

There was no denying that the coe life appeared I awoke, so intoby, with only a thin plank between me and the depths, and I said, ”How is this?” But it was all right; it wasas no other shi+p had ever sailed before in the world The rushi+ng water along her side toldat full speed I knew that no human hand was at the helm; I knew that all ith ”the hands” forward, and that there was no y were interesting studies even here in the trade-winds I observed that about every seven days the wind freshened and drew several points farther than usual from the direction of the pole; that is, it went round from east-southeast to south-southeast, while at the same time a heavy swell rolled up fro on in the anti-trades The wind then hauled day after day as it ain at the normal point, east-southeast This is more or less the constant state of the winter trades in latitude 12 degrees S, where I ”ran down the longitude” for weeks The sun, we all know, is the creator of the trade-winds and of the wind systey is, I think, theof all

Froes of these great palpitations of sea-winds and of the sea itself, the effect of far-off gales To know the laws that govern the winds, and to know that you know thee round the world; otherwise you may tremble at the appearance of every cloud What is true of this in the trade-winds is es run more to extremes

To cross the Pacific Ocean, even under the s you for many days close to nature, and you realize the vastness of the sea Slowly but surely the mark of my little shi+p's course on the track-chart reached out on the ocean and across it, while at her utmost speed she marked with her keel still slowly the sea that carried her On the forty-third day fro beautifully clear and the”in distance” with the sun, I threw up hts I found fro with lunar tables, that her longitude by observation agreed within five

This onderful; both, however, ht be in error, but somehow I felt confident that both were nearly true, and that in a few hours more I should see land; and so it happened, for then I made the island of Nukahiva, the southernroup, clear-cut and lofty The verified longitude when abreast was sos; this was extraordinary All navigators will tell you that froain ain, in the matter of lunars, even expert lunarians are considered as doing clever hen they average within eightit clear that I do not lay clais I think I have already stated that I keptalways towed astern, but so much has to be allowed for currents and for drift, which the log never shows, that it is only an approxies; and even then the master of the shi+p, if he be wise, cries out for the lead and the lookout

Unique was my experience in nautical astronomy from the deck of the _Spray_--soit here

The first set of sights, just spoken of, put herby account I knew that this could not be correct In about an hour's time I took another set of observations with the utmost care; the mean result of these was about the same as that of the first set I asked myself ith my boasted self-dependence, I had not done at least better than this Then I went in search of a discrepancy in the tables, and I found it In the tables I found that the coluarithm was in error It was a matter I could prove beyond a doubt, and itcorrected, I sailed on with self-reliance unshaken, and with my tin clock fast asleep The result of these observations naturally tickled reat shi+p's deck and with two assistants take lunar observations approximately near the truth As one of the poorest of American sailors, I was proud of the little achieveh it may have been

I was _en rapport_ noith s, and was carried on a vast stream where I felt the buoyancy of His hand who made all the worlds

I realized the mathematical truth of their motions, so well known that astronoh the years and the days, and theover the sea even five years later iven meridian on the earth

To find local time is a simpler itude expressed in tiree This, briefly, is the principle on which longitude is found independent of chronoh seldom practised in these days of chrono in the realation that lifts one's heart up more in adoration

CHAPTER XII

Seventy-two days without a port--Whales and birds--A peep into the _Spray's_ galley--Flying-fish for breakfast--A welcome at Apia--A visit from Mrs Robert Louis Stevenson--At Vaili e--At the mercy of sea-ny tihtly by, and instead ofin for Nukahiva, which I could have made as well as not, I kept on for Sa This occupied twenty-nine daysseventy-two days in all I was not distressed in any way during that time There was no end of coave , and there werethe incidents of the voyage from Juan Fernandez to Samoa (which were not reat whale that was absent-ht while I was below The noise from his startled snort and the commotion he htfrom the water he threith his flukes The htened He headed quickly for the east; I kept on going west Soon another whale passed, evidently a co in its wake I saw no e, nor did I wish to

[Illustration: Meeting with the whale]

Hungry sharks came about the vessel often when she neared islands or coral reefs I own to a satisfaction in shooting theers of the sea Nothing is more dreadful to the mind of a sailor, I think, than a possible encounter with a hungry shark

A number of birds were always about; occasionally one poised on the , perhaps, at her odd wings, for she noore her Fuego mainsail, which, like Joseph's coat, was made of many pieces shi+ps are less common on the Southern seas than for the Pacific