Hail, mighty sun! Welcome, radiant, glorious monarch! We saw the luminous orb for ten minutes at mid-day, marking an epoch, for events off Cape Horn date from the last time that the sun was seen. When day broke this morning, behold! the sky was clear and everything presaged at least two hours of bright sunshine. No sooner, however, did the orb show signs of appearing above the horizon than a cloud-bank arose in the west which proved to be the mother of a procession of squalls which covered the sky for the rest of the day, bar a few minutes at noon. But how we did rejoice for even a glimpse of the heavenly body! For days we had dwelt in darkness and twilight, and when we caught sight of the golden disk again it was like the face of an old friend. No one who has not experienced it can imagine what the gloom of Cape Horn is like even at mid-day. It has doubtless somewhat the effect of the darkness of the Polar seas, which, it is said, kills more men than frost and starvation. Practically, throughout the year the heavens in this region are wrapped up in a pall of cloud so dense and low as to feel like an increased atmospheric pressure; and unless one’s spirits are as elastic as rubber the mind must succumb to the dreary influence of this endless waste of gray ocean. It is oppressive beyond the power of words; and so great is the solitude that it is difficult to believe that we are still on the earth and not floating upon the ocean of another planet. “So lonely ’twas, that God himself Scarce seemed there to be.” The sun’s altitude at noon was only 8° 42′, so that he was only about sixteen diameters above the horizon; but notwithstanding, all hands hailed him with glad pæans, and deep and mournful was the wailing when he withdrew. At eleven o’clock, while we were reading below, the skipper called down to know if we didn’t want to see a regular old-fashioned squall. So up we went, and upon issuing from the companion-way were almost literally blown over by a heavy gust. The ship was hove down till the sea flowed over the lee rail thick and smooth and dark, like the water on the verge of a cataract; the wind howled and screeched overhead; spray fell in blinding sheets; while the snow was positively overpowering and almost smothered us when we looked to windward. The ship for some time had dragged a double-reefed maintop-sail, and it was every stitch that she could stand. All through the day we were bombarded by these squalls, and by three in the afternoon the wind had once more increased to a fresh gale, with a wicked, breaking sea which frequently broke on the poop itself.