34 deg. 15' S., and long. 116 deg.
38' W.
CHAPTER XXXI
BAD PROSPECTS--FIRST TOUCH OF CAPE HORN--ICEBERGS--TEMPERANCE
SHIPS--LYING-UP--ICE--DIFFICULTY ON BOARD--CHANGE OF COURSE--
STRAITS OF MAGELLAN
There now began to be a decided change in the appearance of
things. The days became shorter and shorter; the sun running lower
in its course each day, and giving less and less heat; and the
nights so cold as to prevent our sleeping on deck; the Magellan Clouds
in sight, of a clear night; the skies looking cold and angry; and,
at times, a long, heavy, ugly sea, setting in from the southward, told
us what we were coming to. Still, however, we had a fine, strong
breeze, and kept on our way, under as much sail as our ship would
bear. Toward the middle of the week, the wind hauled to the southward,
which brought us upon a taught bowline, made the ship meet, nearly
head on, the heavy swell which rolled from that direction; and there
was something not at all encouraging in the manner in which she met
it. Being so deep and heavy, she wanted the buoyancy which should have
carried her over the seas, and she dropped heavily into them, the
water washing over the decks; and every now and then, when an
unusually large sea met her fairly upon the bows, she struck it with a
sound as dead and heavy as that with which a sledge-hammer falls
upon the pile, and took the whole of it in upon the forecastle, and
rising, carried it aft in the scuppers, washing the rigging off the
pins, and carrying along with it everything which was loose on deck.
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