As it was January when we arrived, and the middle of the southeaster
season, we accordingly came to anchor at the distance of three miles
from the shore, in eleven fathoms water, and bent a slip-rope and
buoys to our cables, cast off the yard-arm gaskets from the sails, and
stopped them all with rope-yarns. After we had done this, the boat
went ashore with the captain, and returned with orders to the mate
to send a boat ashore for him at sundown. I did not go in the first
boat, and was glad to find that there was another going before
night; for after so long a voyage as ours had been, a few hours is
long to pass in sight and out of reach of land. We spent the day on
board in the usual avocations; but as this was the first time we had
been without the captain, we felt a little more freedom, and looked
about us to see what sort of a country we had got into, and were to
spend a year or two of our lives in.
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.
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