The Loriotte got under weigh at
the same time, and was also bound up to Monterey, but as she took a
different course from us, keeping the land aboard, while we kept
well out to sea, we soon lost sight of her. We had a fair wind,
which is something unusual when coming up, as the prevailing wind is
the north, which blows directly down the coast; whence the northern
are called the windward, and the southern the leeward ports.
CHAPTER XI
PASSAGE UP THE COAST--MONTEREY
We got clear of the island before sunrise the next morning, and by
twelve o'clock were out of the canal, and off Point Conception, the
place where we first made the land upon our arrival. This is the
largest point on the coast, and is uninhabited headland, stretching
out into the Pacific, and has the reputation of being very windy.
Any vessel does well which gets by it without a gale, especially in
the winter season. We were going along with studding-sails set on both
sides, when, as we came round the point, we had to haul our wind,
and take in the lee studding-sails. As the brig came more upon the
wind, she felt it more, and we doused the sky-sails, but kept the
weather studding-sails on her, bracing the yards forward so that the
swinging-boom nearly touched the spritsail yard.
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