"Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces throng'd and fiery arms,"
seems to warn off all vessels from approaching these iron-bound shores. Eleven days within a few hours' distance of the coast!
16th.—Five days more passed with a continuation of contrary winds and constant rolling. We are further from hope than we were fourteen days ago. Captain, officers, sailors, all seem nearly disheartened. This morning they caught the most beautiful fish I ever beheld, of the dolphin species—the Cleopatra of the ocean, about four feet long, apparently composed of gold, and studded with turquoises. It changed colour in dying. There is a proverb, which the sailors are repeating to each other, not very encouraging:
"Este es el viage del Orinoco.
Que él que no se murio, se volvió loco."
"This is the voyage of the Orinoco,
in which he who did not die, became crazy."
17th.—Spoke a goleta, who came close up by our vessel, and seemed to have a miserable set on board, amongst others, a worthy pair from Havana, who had just come out of prison, having been accused of murdering a negro. The wind continues contrary. I shall fold up this sea-scrawl, and write no more till we reach Vera Cruz.
LETTER THE FOURTH
Distant View of Vera Cruz—Pilots—Boat from the City—Mutual
Salutes—Approach to Vera Cruz—Crowd on the Wharf—House of Dionisio
V—-o—Guard of Honour—German Piano—Supper—Madonna—Aspect of the
City—Sopilotes—Deliberations—General Guadalupe Victoria—Two-headed
Eagle—Dilapidated Saint—Harp—Theatre—Donna Inocencia
Martinez—Invitation from General Santa Anna.
VERA CRUZ, 18th.
This morning, the sanguine hoped, and the desponding feared, for the wind, though inclined to la brisa, seemed unlikely to prove sufficiently strong to enable us to reach Vera Cruz—this being the twenty-fifth day since we left Havana; a voyage that, with a steamer, might be performed in three days, and with a sailing-vessel and a fair wind, is made in six or seven. About noon, the aspect of things became more favourable. The breeze grew stronger, and with it our hopes.