as long and as regularly with the praises of this kind Mother, who is our hope and consolation in the dangers to which we are exposed.
" We felt how she can calm impart,
Who, though in heaven's supremest place,
Bears -as on earth - a Mother's heart.
We hoped that she would guard us -she,
Bright Mother of Him who walk'd the sea."
An almost perfect calm prevailed on the 6th and 7th, with the thermometer at 88° F.; it went no higher at any time afterward. On the night of the 8th a school of fish assailed our ship: the sharks were making war upon them. It is a fine sight to see them at night; the phosphorescence makes them shine like silver, and they are distinctly vis ible fifteen to twenty feet under water. On the 12th we celebrated the Tooth mass on board the vessel. There were ten ships in sight. On the 13th, toward eight in the evening, a slight breath of air stirred, by means of which a vessel came toward us, accompanied by music. Dutch soldiers were singing war-songs, which contrasted oddly with the litanies of the Holy Virgin which we were singing at the same time. We hailed each other: " Where from and whither bound? " " From Rotterdam to Batavia: from Antwerp to Valparaiso," were the laconic re plies, and they disappeared in the darkness. On the 14th we were insensibly drawing near to the line.
That evening, toward seven o'clock, the sailors gave three cheers for " Neptune's fire." We hurried on deck - a hundred yards from us a column of fire was rising from the sea in the midst of the darkness. It was a barrel of pitch and tar that the sailors had thrown out. Then a gruff voice was heard from the top of the mainmast - " Captain, have you any passengers on board?" " I have, twelve." " Do they propose to cross the line?" " They do." " To-morrow Neptune in person will come and administer to them the baptism indispensable to whomso-