ing into contact with the mercury, unite with it by a natural affinity, and form an amalgam. This is taken from the bottom of the different compartments, and being soft and adhesive, is made into balls, and afterwards heated in a furnace, having but one aperture like a retort. Through this, the mercury ascends in vapor to a small chamber, where it is cooled, and falls in pure quicksilver, ready to be used again in the washing trough. The silver by this process is left in the form of the original balls, with the exception of small cavities, before occupied by the mercury. The balls are melted and cast into bars.

On the sixteenth of June, while on board the ship, I felt a jarring, such as might have been caused by a heavy trampling on the deck above me. It lasted about fifteen seconds, and proved to be a slight shock of an earthquake. One of our officers, who was on shore, felt it very sensibly. He had happened to meet with an old Spaniard from Buenos Ayres, who had been accustomed to earthquakes, when the latter, perceiving something peculiar in the aspect of things around him, anticipated the shock, éxclaiming" temblor, temblor !”

During the latter part of our stay at this place, we were compelled to ride at quarantine, on account of sickness which occurred on board. We were permitted to land on that part of the coast which is seen towards the left hand of the adjoining picture, and could not go beyond the little smooth spot on the hill which is inclosed by rocks. There we used to beguile the hours with such rustic amusements as were within our reach. It is sur

VOYAGE THE FIRST.

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CHAPTER XVII.

SHOWING HOW TO NAVIGATE A YACHT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, OR ELSEWHERE.

THE young sailor, or Amateur Yachter wishing to become a sailor, and to manage his own craft, will find this chapter, and the one following, more worthy of his attention, for practical uses, than any other in the work. The general reader, on the contrary, having no especial regard for "tar, pitch, and turpentine," nor any desire to box the compass secundem artem, nor to keep his reckoning at sea in good set phrase, nor to "take a pull at the main brace" when the occasion justifies that nautical ceremony, will do well, with but a slight glance, to let them pass for the present. Even he, however, will be sure to recur to them, after being a short time at sea, for a fund of rational amusement, as well as instruction in the occult science of navigation; and also for the means of illustrating much that he will find constantly going on around him, which otherwise would be a dead-letter or a sealed book to his comprehension.

They are somewhat full of technical and practical navigation, and in fact contain more theoretical information, in a few words, and in the simplest form, than many a good sailor

thinks it worth his while to acquire on shore in the schools. If I have been obliged to knock the rust off my own seamanship, in order to be able to present the information in this form, I am a great gainer, and have reaped an advantage already, which I hope to share with many of my young and aspiring countrymen, who are determined, like the daring mariners of ancient Tyre, to "go down to the sea in ships ;” although those same men of that great Phenician city, "whose merchants were princes," had none of the modern advantages here presented for practical navigation.

Far be it from me to undertake to write an extended treatise upon navigation, while such excellent books as Bowditch's "Practical Navigator," and Brady's "Kedge Anchor" are so easily obtained in all our sea-ports. No professional seaman, of any pretension to nautical science, will go to sea without them. But I think I may venture to predict, that, in addition thereto, no amateur sailor will hereafter trust himself upon the deep waters, without tucking this, "The Romance of Yachting," into his birth or hammock, to solace him in the leisure hours of his voyage: And the more especially do I think thus, because I design to enlighten him in that which will be all-sufficient, (with some other slight aids,) to enable him to keep a reckoning for himself, and daily to find the place of his ship upon the chart, so that he may "stick a pin there," and say to himself, "thus far have we gone."

With the high example of Queen Victoria before the world, who is often on the sea a-yachting, why should not the intelligent women of this country, (who, if the truth were told, are as fond of yachting as the men,) also dip into the myste

prising to see how soon men begin to act and feel like children, when confined to such employments.

On the fourth of July the American independence was celebrated on board. On the fifth, we witnessed a whaling scene in the harbor of Coquimbo. There were at that time, besides the three American whale ships at anchor in the harbor, two French ships on a whaling voyage, the crews of which proved themselves on the occasion both vigilant and active. The latter first discovered two whales entering the harbor, and immediately dispatched their boats to get outside of them, and drive them towards the shore. The American whalers were soon in the pursuit. Our shrouds were manned and our forecastle crowded by our crew, who expressed great interest in the enterprise, though at the distance of two or three miles from the scene. The Frenchmen had the advantage as to distance and information, and soon fixed a harpoon in one of the whales. "Now he is sky-larking! see, how he's lying to!" exclaimed one from our forecastle. "Now for a Nantucket sleigh ride!" and away went the little boat in the direction of the line of the harpoon. The whale, alternately rising out of the water and plunging into the deep, soon began to spout currents of the blood-stained element, which could be distinctly seen from our ship, as the chase had driven him within half a mile of us. The second whale was harpooned in a similar manner. But during the heat of the contest a melancholy accident occurred. One of the French boats was struck by the tail of the fish first harpooned, and capsized, by which one of the men in it

was killed outright, and sunk; another had his head bro-. ken, and died soon, and another had an arm and leg fractured. The two last were immediately taken from the water by their companions, who, however, pursued the whales till they had killed both. Our boats were then dispatched to assist in towing them to the French ships, where they were cut in pieces without delay. We saw the crews for a long time engaged in hoisting on board the great pieces of blubber. One of the whales was rather small; the other was quite large, and yielded about one hundred barrels of oil.

On the ninth of July, we left Coquimbo for a second visit to Callao; and on the following day had a fair, fresh wind, which carried us forward at a rapid rate. On our arrival, which was on the night of the seventeenth, we had several men sick with the small-pox, and the next day were quarantined. At the end of two days, however, we received pratique, and were furnished with several kinds of fruit from the shore. The chirimoya, so remarkable for its fine qualities, was in bloom during my first visit at Callao. Its flowers were among the principal objects which attracted my attention at Miraflores. They emit a delightful fragrance, which is remarkably diffusive. The perfume of a single one, it is said, will suffice to fill a large apartment. The fruit, which was now ripe, has been celebrated ever since the discovery of the country, when, in the first reports that reached Spain, it was compared to a net full of honey. It is shaped like a heart, and its outward texture has some resemblance to that of a pineapple.