You know better dan dem as 'as seen
it wid der own eyes. You wait till you've been to sea as long as I
have, and den you'll know.''
CHAPTER VII
We continued sailing along with a fair wind and fine weather until--
Tuesday, November 25th, when at daylight we saw the island of Juan
Fernandez directly ahead, rising like a deep blue cloud out of the
sea. We were then probably nearly seventy miles from it; and so
high and so blue did it appear that I mistook it for a cloud
resting over the island, and looked for the island under it, until
it gradually turned to a deader and greener color, and I could
mark the inequalities upon its surface. At length we could
distinguish trees and rocks; and by the afternoon this beautiful
island lay fairly before us, and we directed our course to the
only harbor. Arriving at the entrance soon after sundown, we found
a Chilian man-of-war brig, the only vessel, coming out. She hailed
us; and an officer on board, whom we supposed to be an American,
advised us to run in before night, and said that they were bound
to Valparaiso. We ran immediately for the anchorage, but, owing to
the winds which drew about the mountains and came to us in flaws
from different points of the compass, we did not come to an anchor
until nearly midnight.
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