Our passage from Bermuda to Halifax--especially through the Gulf Stream--was very boisterous, and attended with some peril. During our entire voyage from China--with the exception of the gale we encountered at the Cape of Good Hope--we experienced nothing comparable to it, and sometimes it seemed as though our little steamer must be engulfed. But Captain Hunter was an experienced and ready officer, evidently possessing, even to the uninitiated in nautical matters, that _savoir-faire_ in his profession, which, united to his calm self-reliance and frank, gentlemanly bearing, banished anxiety, and gave us the greatest confidence in his ability and skill. The winter is too severe and stormy on this route for women, unless compelled by necessity, to incur the hazards of the season; hence I was the only female among the passengers. Our fellow-travellers were few, and mostly English gentlemen. Some of them were in Her Majesty’s service, and seemed amazed at the pirate-like treatment which we had received from such brave and high-minded _gentlemen_ as, they supposed, were to be found among the officers of the “Confederate privateers!” Captain Walker had formerly been in our naval service, and between him and our English friends there was every day more or less earnest, but calm and reasonable, conversation in regard to the unhappy state of our country, as well as to the position and relative merits of the controversy between the North and South; but no unkind remarks were made, nor did I hear even so much as a bit of pleasantry repeated, at the expense of our Government, in my presence.