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the personal character of the chief actors was in keeping with that of the enterprise, which would neither have been conceived nor attempted by men of everyday mould.

My father's course, from the time of his starting out from Havre, four years previous, had been marked by such sagacity in the conception and such energy and fearlessness in the execution of the enterprises he had undertaken as indicate a rare combination of mental and physical attainments. Their exercise had secured the object at which they aimed, and had relieved him from the painful anxiety he had felt, and which his letters so often expressed, lest his father should be in

want.

He had provided for him, and gained for himself a fortune which would have been ample for the gratification of his simple tastes had he abandoned the further prosecution of such exciting adventure as he had heretofore pursued. But a life of quiet ease and luxury was inconsistent with the demands of such a spirit as his, and the union of his own fortune with that of one so fully in sympathy with him as his friend Shaler served, doubtless, to stimulate both of them to the achievement of enterprises of greater pith and moment than either would have attempted alone.

The fact of their winning the friendship of so accomplished a man as the Count de Rouissillon, the mutual appreciation of the value of the intellectual enjoyment of each other's society which was manifested by the invitation and its acceptance, and the subsequent relations of harmony and confidence which were maintained between the three throughout the extended period of try

CHARACTER OF VOYAGE.

75

ing experiences to which they were subjected, afford evidences of such characteristics in each as can but excite surprise and admiration, and serve to lift the whole enterprise above the domain of a mere trading voyage, and impart to it a halo of attractive interest which may be justly termed poetic.

CHAPTER V.
1803, 1804.

Voyage of the Lelia Byrd.-Adventures in Chili and on the Coast of California.-Thence to the Sandwich Islands and China, and thence in the Alert to Boston.

THIS Voyage of the Lelia Byrd occupied the ensuing two and a half years. If any letters were received from him during its prosecution they have not been preserved, and the probability is that no opportunity was offered him for communicating with his friends. His own account of it, as given in his narrative, is so complete, and comprises details of such interest, that if I were to attempt its repetition I should transfer the whole of it to these pages. But I prefer to touch only upon the leading incidents as given in his daily journal, and preserve the consecutive order of events in the history of his life.

While yet in the river Elbe, and lying at anchor at Glückstadt, they had a very narrow escape from destruction by a storm which caused very great damage to the shipping. One cable parted, and the pilot who was on board was very urgent to cut away the masts to prevent being driven on the pier heads; but to this they would not consent, and were finally held by the bower anchor's catching in the one they had lost, and escaped with the loss of the stern boat torn from the davits.

FROM CUXHAVEN TO RIO JANEIRO.

77

They sailed from Cuxhaven on the 8th of November, 1801, in company with a dozen ships and brigs, and soon had an opportunity of discovering the superiority of their vessel, as at the end of four hours only two of the fleet were visible astern from their decks.

Touching at the Canary Islands for fresh provisions, they continued their course across the Atlantic, and arrived at Rio Janeiro, January 2, 1802:

"Next morning we were visited with much formality by the municipal authorities, accompanied by an interpreter, to ascertain the condition of our vessel, and know our wants, in order that, from their report to superior authority, it might be decided how long we should be permitted to remain in port.

"Aware of the jealousy of the government towards all foreigners, and their practice of rigidly enforcing the law for the exclusion of any other flag than their own except in cases of emergency, we presumed the time granted us would be very limited, and were, therefore, very well satisfied on being informed that the viceroy permitted us to remain eight days. This was ample time to fill our watercasks, to procure a supply of stock, vegetables, and fruit, and to ascertain if it were possible to dispose of our cargo to any of the traders who were here from the river Platte."

They were allowed to go on shore only when accompanied by a soldier; but, as there was no limit fixed to their rambles, they visited all the most attractive points, and spent one evening at the theatre, where the patience of the audience was tried by the delay of the viceroy, as the curtain could not rise till his arrival. When he at length appeared the whole audience rose to greet him, and performances began with a five-act comedy and concluded with a ballet.

The most interesting incident which occurred during

their stay, however, was a visit paid by Mr. Rouissillon and my father to the Convent of the Benedictines. Seeing one of the monks, as they were looking at the outside of the building, Rouissillon addressed him in Italian, and finding he could thus communicate with him asked permission to examine the interior, which was courteously granted, and they were escorted to a gorgeously furnished chapel, and thence to the dining-room and other apartments. They at length asked to see the library, which seemed to excite surprise as being an unusual request; but they were taken without hesitation to a pleasant room, the windows of which overlooked the bay, where they found a collection of ten or twelve thousand volumes, mostly in French, Italian, and Latin, which they examined with interest. The monk who accompanied them was much astonished with the eagerness of their examination, and with Rouissillon's familiarity with many of the works, and remarked upon it to one of the brethren as a mortifying contrast to the ignorance and indifference of their own countrymen. Finding no opportunity to dispose of their cargo, they took their departure on the 10th of January, came in sight of Cape Horn on the 7th of February, and for a week after were contending with the boisterous and tempestuous weather usual in that region, and arrived at Valparaiso on the 24th of February.

"On entering the Bay of Valparaiso we were boarded by a naval officer from a guardacosta, who desired us not to cast anchor till the captain had presented himself to the governor and obtained permission. Consequently, while Mr. Shaler accompanied this officer to the governor, we lay off and on in the bay. More than an hour

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