After some days of calm with winds sometimes favorable but light, and, when fresh, ahead, the journal continues:—­

“Monday, 25th September. Another gale of wind last night, ahead, dreadful sea; took in sail and lay to all night....  Beginning to think of our provisions; bread mouldy and little left; sugar, little left; fresh provisions, little left; beans, none left; salt pork, little left; salt beef, a plenty; water, plenty; stores of passengers, some gone and the rest drawing to a conclusion; patience drawing to a conclusion; in short all is falling short and drawing to a conclusion except our voyage and my journal....

“Tuesday, 26th September....  Find our captain to be a complete old woman; takes in sail at night and never knows when to set it again; the longer we know him, the more surly he grows; he is not even civil....  Several large turtles passed within a few feet of us yesterday and to-day, and, considering we are near the end of our provisions, one would have thought our captain would be anxious to take them; but no, it was too much trouble to lower the boat from the stern.

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“Friday, 29th September. Last night another dreadful gale, as severe as any since we have been out.

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“Monday, 2d October. Last night another gale of wind from northwest and is this morning still blowing hard and cold from the same quarter.  What a dreadful passage is ours; we seem destined to have no fair wind, and to have a gale of wind every other day.

“Saturday, 7th October. Wind still ahead and blowing hard; very cold and dismal.  Oh! when shall we see home!...  I thought I could observe a kind of warfare between the different winds since we have been at sea.  The west wind seems to be the tyrant at present, as it were the Bonaparte of the air.  He has been blowing his gales very lavishly, and no other wind has been able to check him with any success.

“I recollect on one day, while it was calm, a thick bank of clouds began to rise in the northeast; no other clouds were in the sky.  They rose gently in the calm as if fearful of rousing their deadly foe in the west.  Now they had gained one third of the heavens when, behold, in the southwest another bank of thick black clouds came rolling up, and, reddening in the rays of the setting sun, marched on, teeming with fury.  They soon gained the middle of the heavens where the frightened northeast had not yet reached.  They met, they mixed, the routed northeast skulked back, while the thick column of the southwest, having driven back its enemy, slowly returned to its repose, proudly displaying a thousand various colors, as if for victory.