- end_line
- 3992
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:18.535Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3926
- text
- Seeing the drowsiness of Jarl and Samoa, which so often kept me from my
hammock at night, forcing me to repose by day, when I far preferred
being broad awake, I decided to let Annatoo take her turn at the night
watches; which several times she had solicited me to do; railing at the
sleepiness of her spouse; though abstaining from all reflections upon
Jarl, toward whom she had of late grown exceedingly friendly.
Now the Calmuc stood her first night watch to admiration; if any thing,
was altogether too wakeful. The mere steering of the craft employed not
sufficiently her active mind. Ever and anon she must needs rush from
the tiller to take a parenthetical pull at the fore- brace, the end of
which led down to the bulwarks near by; then refreshing herself with a
draught or two of water and a biscuit, she would continue to steer
away, full of the importance of her office. At any unusual flapping of
the sails, a violent stamping on deck announced the fact to the
startled crew. Finding her thus indefatigable, I readily induced her to
stand two watches to Jarl’s and Samoa’s one; and when she was at the
helm, I permitted myself to doze on a pile of old sails, spread every
evening on the quarter-deck.
It was the Skyeman, who often admonished me to “heave the ship to”
every night, thus stopping her headway till morning; a plan which,
under other circumstances, might have perhaps warranted the slumbers of
all. But as it was, such a course would have been highly imprudent. For
while making no onward progress through the water, the rapid currents
we encountered would continually be drifting us eastward; since,
contrary to our previous experience, they seemed latterly to have
reversed their flow, a phenomenon by no means unusual in the vicinity
of the Line in the Pacific. And this it was that so prolonged our
passage to the westward. Even in a moderate breeze, I sometimes
fancied, that the impulse of the wind little more than counteracted the
glide of the currents; so that with much show of sailing, we were in
reality almost a fixture on the sea.
The equatorial currents of the South Seas may be regarded as among the
most mysterious of the mysteries of the deep. Whence they come, whither
go, who knows? Tell us, what hidden law regulates their flow.
Regardless of the theory which ascribes to them a nearly uniform course
from east to west, induced by the eastwardly winds of the Line, and the
collateral action of the Polar streams; these currents are forever
shifting. Nor can the period of their revolutions be at all relied upon
or predicted.
But however difficult it may be to assign a specific cause for the
ocean streams, in any part of the world, one of the wholesome effects
thereby produced would seem obvious enough. And though the circumstance
here alluded to is perhaps known to every body, it may be questioned,
whether it is generally invested with the importance it deserves.
Reference is here made to the constant commingling and purification of
the sea-water by reason of the currents.
For, that the ocean, according to the popular theory, possesses a
special purifying agent in its salts, is somewhat to be doubted. Nor
can it be explicitly denied, that those very salts might corrupt it,
were it not for the brisk circulation of its particles consequent upon
the flow of the streams. It is well known to seamen, that a bucket of
sea-water, left standing in a tropical climate, very soon becomes
highly offensive; which is not the case with rainwater.
But I build no theories. And by way of obstructing the one, which might
possibly be evolved from the statement above, let me add, that the
offensiveness of sea-water left standing, may arise in no small degree
from the presence of decomposed animal matter.
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