Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/308

 in the afternoon to settle it. At four o’clock we were again called aft to prayers, the services being similar to  those held in the morning.

March 5. A fine, clear day, but very hot. Crossed the line to-day, but without the customary visit of Father  Neptune. The only ceremony in crossing was a thorough baptism of rain, by which we were completely drenched.

March 15. We now doubled the "cape of storms," Cape of Good Hope. All the light yards were sent down, and everything made snug. The Southern Cross was now visible in the heavens, and its two polar stars  shone as brightly as ever. For several days the ship was surrounded by albatrosses, cape pigeons, and stormy  petrels.

April 3. In the morning made the island of Java and spoke the ship Monument, from Canton, bound for  Boston. We soon entered the Straits of Sunda. The wind failing us, we came to in the roads and took in a  supply of fresh buffalo meat, chickens, vegetables, fruits,  garlic, and snaps, or Holland gin. Probably in no part of the world are chickens to be found so plenty and  cheap as at this island. We could look into the water and see the bottom, fairly white with the bones which  had been thrown overboard by the sailors who had  visited the place. During the two days we lay here becalmed, it was chicken for breakfast, chicken for dinner, chicken for supper. It is as natural for an old sailor to growl as it is for him to breathe, and, on this  occasion, they indulged in it freely. It was amusing to hear one of them growl out, "Oh, if they would only  serve old salt horse for dinner!"