the air, and with a joyful "huzza," the health of the new hemisphere
was drunk.

No festivities took place among the crew. This is at present the
case in most vessels, as such amusements seldom end without
drunkenness and disorder. The sailors, however, could not let the
cabin-boy, who passed the line for the first time, go quite scot-
free; so he was well christened in a few buckets of salt water.

Long before passing the line, we passengers had frequently spoken of
all the sufferings and tortures we should be subjected to at the
Equator. Every one had read or heard something exceedingly
horrible, which he duly communicated to all the rest. One expected
headache or colic; a second had pictured to himself the sailors
falling down from exhaustion; a third dreaded such a fearful degree
of heat, that it would not only melt the pitch, {11} but would so
dry up the ship, that nothing but continual throwing water over it
could prevent its catching fire; while a fourth feared that all the
provisions would be spoilt, and ourselves nearly starved to death.

For my own part, I had already congratulated myself on the tragical
stories I should be able to present to my readers; I beheld them
shedding tears at the narration of the sufferings we had
experienced, and I already appeared to myself half a martyr. Alas!
I was sadly deceived. We all remained in perfectly good health; not
a sailor sank exhausted; the ship did not catch fire; and the
provisions were not spoilt--they were just as bad as before.

3rd September. From 2 to 3 degrees South latitude the wind is very
irregular, and frequently excessively violent. Today we passed the