directly to Father De Smet's destination without other than necessary outfitting delays at any place. They were detained at Flushing near the mouth of the Scheld twentyeight days by contrary winds and did not finally get away until January 9, 1844.
The story of this voyage of seven months, as told by Father De Smet, is one of the most interesting on record. It deals with all the incidents of the journey, the varying moods of the weather, the crossing of the Equator with its time-honored fun and frolic, the meeting of vessels on the lonely ocean, the rise of the southern constellations into view and their disappearance again, and a great variety of other subjects which so long a voyage brings forth. To a man of Father De Smet's temperament everything had an interest and he was eminently qualified to derive the utmost pleasure possible from such a journey.
Soon after passing the Horn they encountered a succession of terrific storms which almost drove them upon the coast of Patagonia. It was a terrible time, but the danger was met with consummate skill by the crew and with calm resignation by the passengers. "A tempest is truly a sublime spectacle," says Father De Smet in his account of the storm, "but the description is infinitely more agreeable than the reality. If there had been less of the frightful about it, probably I should have enjoyed it more. Such was the roaring of the winds and waves that the captain's voice, even through the trumpet, could hardly be distinguished. The waves rose in pyramids around us, and masses of water, torn off by the fury of the winds, were hurled upon us in floods that filled the deck with foam. Never in any of my voyages had I seen such evidence of the might of wind and water, nor of the admirable manner in which a vessel resists the fury of the elements."
The Infatigable stopped for a considerable time at both Valparaiso in Chile and Callao in Peru, and Father De Smet visited the capitals of these two countries. They were full of interest to him and he devotes much interesting