named is easily caught, and once on the ship he will not leave it again. The stormy petrel is found in every sea: they are something the size of a swallow, and as they flit over the surface of the water, sometimes they seem to be running upon it. The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands, where these birds are abundant, run a wick through them from the bill to the tail and use them for candles, thanks to the great quantity of oil they contain.
From the 24th to the 30th we had to withstand furious tempests. Several of our sails were torn to shreds and the vessel became the sport of the winds and floods. Several of these days we should have passed in mortal anguish, had
not God been our sole hope of safety. At last we breathed again and thought ourselves out of all danger, when divine Providence was pleased to send us a severer trial: for an impetuous wind arose which drove us before it with such rapidity that in a few hours we saw solid land. The peril was great. The ship, with two sails spread, was
obliged to make head against the hurricane. A tempest is truly a sublime spectacle: 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 were the bellowings of the winds and the waves that the captain's words, 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 wind were hurled upon us in floods and filled the deck with foam. Never in any of my voyages had I had such evidence of the might of the wind and the water, nor of the admirable manner in which the vessel resists such a furious tempest.
It was most fortunate that we had a courageous and experienced captain and officers and a sober, active and obedient crew. All of us, with the exception of the nuns, were on deck, with our eyes fixed on the frightful cliffs which line the wild and barbarous coasts of Patagonia. We awaited in gloomy silence the accomplishment of the