On the noon of the following day we perceived the terrible Cape Horn at a distance of twenty-five miles, lying in the form of a high, round mountain before us. A calm, of which we took advantage to shoot some albatrosses, delayed us for a few hours; but on Christmas-day we doubled the Cape without the slightest difficulty. In the evening, after sailing close alongside the little rocky island of Diego Ramirez, inhabited by immense numbers of sea-birds, we found ourselves in the South Sea. A favourable east wind swelling our sails, on the 28th of December, we did our best to clear the island of Terra del Fuego, before a west wind should impede our progress; but in this we were disappointed, for a sudden storm drove us out of our course to latitude 59-1/2°. Here, for a New Year's gift, we fell in with a fresh south wind, which helped us forward at the rate of eleven miles an hour, and continued to swell our sails, till on the 5th we lost sight of the Terra del Fuego, and joyfully continued our voyage northwards. At Cape Horn, Reaumur's thermometer stood at four degrees; a temperature rendered very disagreeable by our having so recently suffered from oppressive heat. We now hailed with renewed enjoyment the daily increasing warmth. My sailors had heard much of the dreadful storms which raged at all seasons round Cape Horn, and destroyed so many ships. One of them had recently read to his messmates the history of Lord Anson's unfortunate voyage: they were therefore not quite free from apprehension on approaching this dangerous point, and were agreeably surprised at passing it so quietly. In their joy they hit on the proud, poetical idea, that the very elements themselves respected the Russian flag. This bold imagination took such possession of their minds, that, in the elevation of their spirits, they resolved to represent it in a pantomime, to which I willingly assented, as my own cheerfulness greatly depended on theirs. Accordingly, a throne was erected on the capstan, adorned with coloured flags and streamers, which we were to take for the extreme point of Cape Horn, upon which, shrouded in red drapery, with all becoming dignity and seriousness of aspect, sat the hitherto unknown God Horn, (begotten and born of the sailors' fancy,) the tremendous ruler of the winds and waves in this tempestuous ocean. In his strong right hand he held a large three-pronged oven fork, and in his left a telescope, with which he surveyed the watery expanse seeking for a sacrifice. A grey beard smeared with tar, hung down to his knees, and, probably as a symbol of his marine dominion, instead of a crown, his head was decorated by a leathern pail. Before him lay a large open book, and a pen was stuck behind his ear, to write down the names of the ships which sailed by. The exact purpose of this I could not understand, but the effect was equally good. Upon the lower step of the throne stood two full-cheeked sailors, very much painted, holding bellows, to represent