An Arbitrary Prohibition—Card Playing and Checker Playing—Dancing—Treachery of Mr. Johnson—Some Passengers—A Comical Character, and a Pugnacious Character—A Beautiful Bird—Closing the Hatches—A Question of Jurisdiction—The Hatches Re-opened—A Sudden Transformation—Neglected Duties of the Chaplain—His Influence with the Captain.

I have spoken of the amusement the passengers have had in making wooden trinkets from the wood taken on board at Talcahuana. The captain and first mate have been made the recipients of many of these toys; but to-day they have issued an order prohibiting any further manufacture of them. The passengers all remonstrated against the arbitrary order, but were obliged to submit; for the captain has control of the wood.

One of the principal sources of amusement during the voyage has been card playing. It has helped many, who had no other occupation or source of amusement, to pass their time pleasantly; and to others it has proved an agreeable relaxation. Much mischief has doubtless been prevented by it, and many a quarrel avoided. I have not heard of an unpleasant dispute or altercation from card playing since we set sail, though there are seldom less than six or eight companies engaged in it during the pleasant weather. Several packs of cards were included in my outfit, but though I have not, in a single instance, had occasion to use them myself, they have nevertheless, done good service. Captain J. has often threatened to break up this wicked amusement, but I think he has not dared to attempt it. Though very strong in his denunciations of card playing, there are other games which meet his approbation. He has himself made a checker-board, and spends many a leisure moment in playing checkers with Mrs. L—t.

Still another source of amusement with many of the passengers is dancing. We have two fiddlers on board the ship, and are therefore well supplied with the necessary music. There is a space between the two houses covering a few square feet, and another space still smaller between the forward house and the windlass, where a small number of persons can crowd through a figure in a dance, and these spaces have been sometimes used for that purpose. I have attempted to take this kind of exercise, but in such a circumscribed space and such a rolling ballroom, I have found the amusement any thing but amusing.

From what I have already recorded of Mr. Johnson, it will be seen that he has been guilty of some indiscretions (to call them by no harsher name) that are not very creditable to him as a man or a Christian. I have now to state a fact, which proves him to be destitute of common honesty. At his particular request I had lent him several sheets of my journal, in which were some passages reflecting on the conduct of Captain J. and the first mate. These passages, he gave me his word, should not be repeated nor revealed. I heard no more about it for several days and until last night, when the reverend gentleman came deliberately to me, and said, that considering all the circumstances of the case, he felt it his duty, notwithstanding his promise, to repeat those obnoxious passages to the captain and mate. He asked me if I had any objection. I replied that it could answer no good purpose; that he very well knew that the captain had repeatedly threatened me with personal violence, and this would only serve to increase his rage, and, perhaps, furnish him with a pretext for putting his threats into execution; and that I would not consent to the disclosure. To all my remonstrances he only replied that his duty impelled him to the course he was about to pursue, and that his conscience would no longer permit him to remain silent. So he left me to perform his duty and quiet his conscience by breaking his word and violating his promise, and making a revelation, which could answer no other purpose than to make mischief, to increase a personal animosity, which was already bitter enough, to prolong a quarrel which it should have been his duty as a Christian minister to allay, and to stir up strife when he should have endeavored to promote conciliation. "Blessed are the peace-makers."

It will be thought that we have a jumble of strange characters in our company, and so indeed we have. Perhaps I have occupied too much space with the bad portion of them. Perhaps, too, I have attached too much importance to the little scrapes and wrangles, of which I have given so many accounts. One might suppose that I had treasured up every quarrel that has occurred during the voyage, and that I delighted in telling them. But it is not so. I would give a correct impression of the voyage, its pleasures and pains; and the record of a portion of our disputes is necessary to this end. But I have omitted more than I have recorded, and I have related others in the fewest words into which I could condense them.

In addition to the ladies whose names have appeared in the progress of this narrative, is Mrs. A. G. B., who is going to join her husband in Stockton. She is a very quiet, and I believe a religious woman. She passes a great part of her time in her state-room, and keeps entirely aloof from all the bickerings that are of such frequent occurrence in the ladies' cabin. She comes on deck after supper to take the air. I have occasionally passed an hour very agreeably with her, enjoying a pleasant sunset and twilight, or talking of friends at home. Her daughter Mary is a pretty girl of seventeen, who reads French, and has a variety of accomplishments. Mrs. B. has two sons on board, one a boy, and the other, a married man, whose wife and daughter, a sprightly little girl of three years, accompany him.

One of the passengers in the main cabin is a deaf-mute, Elisha Osgood, a cabinet-maker. He gave our chaplain a mild reproof for his belligerent propensities a few days since. Learning that Mr. J. had a revolver, he proposed to buy it. Mr. J. refused to sell it; whereupon Osgood wrote upon his slate, "You had better sell your revolver, and buy a bible."

Mr. Gardner, the second mate, is a clever fellow, and is endowed with much more intelligence than the first mate, and is more popular with the passengers and crew, though far from being a favorite with the captain.

There is a quiet good-natured fellow among us, by the name of John F. Dolliff, who loves sport, and is a practical joker. He is possessed of kind, humane feelings withal, and I am indebted to him for many a glass of lemonade, given me in the former part of our voyage, at a time when I was suffering the most tormenting thirst from seasickness. Dolliff's voice bears a great resemblance to that of Captain J., which has given rise to some sport among us. He sometimes orders the stewards to trim the lamp in the binnacle, calls out to the man at the wheel to tell him how the ship heads, and gives a variety of orders, which are generally obeyed. One dark night, after the captain had turned in, he put on his—the captain's—coat and hat, and walked out. He called to the mate, asked several questions about the wind and weather, which were all respectfully answered, and then directed him to reef the top-sails. This order, absurd enough under the circumstances, was not given in nautical style, and while the perplexed mate hesitated, some one who was in the secret laughed, and betrayed the joke.

T. W. Dolliff, a cousin of the above-named, is, or rather was, the most pugnacious man among us, though he exhibited no indications of his pugnacity on board the bark. He was said to be pretty well covered with scars, which he had received in numerous combats. At Talcahuana he fell in with a bully, who was imbued with a great hatred of Yankees, and who challenged any and all who were present to fight him. Dolliff had not had a fight for many months, and was really pining for a little amusement of that sort. This opportunity to indulge in his favorite recreation was too good to be lost, and he readily accepted the challenge. A little space in the room was cleared for the combatants. They took their places, and after a moment's maneuvering, the fellow made a pass at Dolliff, which he parried, and at the same instant he dealt him a blow that laid him sprawling on the floor. The bully got up and prepared for a second encounter, which ended in the same manner. Unwilling to yield, he made a third attempt, and a third time he measured his length upon the floor, when he wisely gave up the contest, acknowledged the superiority of the Yankee, and treated the company.

Within three weeks Dolliff has been attacked with rheumatic pains attended with fever, which have laid him up. He has been removed from the main cabin, where he must have died, had he remained there, and a berth has been provided for him in our room. Every thing that can be, is done to make him comfortable; but our ship is badly supplied with necessaries for the sick. He will, in all probability, have a lingering illness, and he must be taken to a hospital in San Francisco, California, of which he has a great dread.

August 14. One of our passengers, Mr. Gould, has generously treated us to a rich pound-cake. His wife made it in Bangor. It was put into a tin box and soldered up, and on being opened, was found as fresh and sweet as when first baked.

August 15. No religious services to-day. There are many conjectures as to the cause of this omission of his duty by our chaplain, the most plausible of which is, his consciousness of the strong disgust which his recent treachery, falsehood, and attempt at mischief-making have excited.

We occasionally see a beautiful bird making its flight high above us, but seldom coming near the ship. Its plumage as seen at a distance is pure white, its head resembles that of a dove, its neck slender and delicate, and with a tail composed of two long, pointed, and flowing white feathers, and wings long and slender, it floats through the air with a gracefulness peculiar to itself, and excelling that of any other bird I have seen. This is the Tropic Bird, (PhÆton phoenicurus.) The long taper tail feathers have given the sailors a hint for a name, and they call it "The Marlin-spike."

August 17. Crossed the Tropic of Cancer in longitude 127° west. The mate signalized the day by closing the hatches over the main cabin. The reason assigned for this act was a quarrel at breakfast between an Irishman and one of the stewards, which disturbed the mate's repose. Much excitement prevailed in consequence of this act, and the fifty men shut up in that "black hole" remonstrated against the injustice of being punished for a little squabble, in which only two of their number were engaged. Finding their arguments were of no avail with the mate, they carried their case to the captain. To their remonstrances he replied that this case was beyond his control; that he commanded the after-part of the ship, and the mate the forward part; that this hatchway, being in the mate's room, was under his sole command; and that he, the captain, had no more authority to order it to be taken off, than the mate had to command him on the quarter-deck. All this appeared very much like nonsense to our land lubbers, who doubted if the maritime law recognized a division of authority, which seemed to them so utterly absurd and ridiculous. At this point of the discussion, Mr. Tyler, one of the passengers, remarked that he had hitherto kept aloof from all the wrangles we had had, but that he should not remain quiet under this arbitrary act. He assured the captain that if the hatches were not removed, there would be a greater row than we had ever witnessed on board this bark. But neither the captain nor mate would make any concession, and it was determined by the passengers that they should have no sleep as long as the cause of their disquiet remained. There was a prospect of a stormy night between decks, and extensive preparations were made for a musical concert, which would not have been very conducive to slumber, when our brave officers, thinking they would find the contest an unequal one, suddenly and wisely resolved to remove the hatches, the consequence of which was an immediate restoration of peace.

August 22. A sudden and wonderful transformation has been wrought in our chaplain. From being very reserved in his intercourse with the passengers, he has all at once become exceedingly familiar. I have been surprised within two or three days past to see him engaged in high frolics with the men, scuffling, knocking off hats, throwing ropes over the men's heads, running and jumping like a boy over the houses and decks, and playing a hundred capers and pranks, which have attracted much attention, and excited not a little ridicule throughout the ship. The cause of this sudden change in the good parson is so palpable, that very few do not understand it; and the lost popularity he is so desirous to win back will scarcely be recovered by this means. His duties as our chaplain, which have never been arduous, are now wholly neglected; and well they may be, for very few will listen to him. He began his labors with us after the first two or three stormy weeks, with a prayer once a week, besides a sermon on Sundays. These were well attended, a large majority of our company being present. After a lapse of several weeks, the week-day prayer was omitted. Then the Sunday service was suspended for a time in consequence of his fight with Julia S. He attempted to renew his meetings in the main cabin, but received a hint that his services would not be acceptable to the occupants of that part of the ship. However, when warm weather returned he preached on the house-top, though to very small audiences, until the perpetration of his treachery with me, which has brought such a load of odium upon him, that he has not dared to attempt to preach since. He has proved an artful and dishonest man, and has exercised a pernicious influence over our weak-minded and ignorant captain, and has been his counsellor, adviser and supporter in nearly all the quarrels in which he has been engaged with his passengers. That his influence in this bark is confined to the captain, a single fact will prove. He some time since got up a certificate for signatures, the purport of which was to plaster over Mrs. L—t's conduct. Not a passenger would sign it.