Around our stove for three or four days there have been suspended several of these suits, so oil-sodden that to touch one means an immense grease-spot. Nor is this the only inconvenience, for the whole interior of the cabin reeks with the stifling fumes of hot, boiled oil. As far as we have been able to discover, there is but one article sold from a slop-chest to sailors that is worth paying for, and that is the stiff, black sou’wester. They are very comfortable, though as rigid as a fireman’s leather helmet, and are lined with heavy red flannel, with a band of the same that extends over the ears and back of the neck, to the exclusion of the most penetrating snow-squalls. The face is protected by a wide visor of the same inflexible stuff, which extends far down over the neck. As the old man remarked, “One o’ these things would stop a battle-axe.” However exaggerated this may be, though, they do most effectively preserve the cranium from the severest Cape Horn hail-squalls; you might as well tie a handkerchief over your head as to wear an ordinary yellow sou’wester in one of these squalls, as far as protection from the hail is concerned. We now have for tea every evening a dish entirely new to us. It is a hind-quarter of pig steeped in brine for a fortnight; in other words, an unsmoked ham; and it is the sweetest, juiciest pig meat imaginable. I would rather eat it than the tenderest young sucking pig I ever tasted. Another very successful article of food on board is the soup, which is made as follows: Empty one of the large one-gallon tins of mutton (put up in a liquor like canned sausages) into a saucepan; add tinned carrots, tomatoes, rice, and barley, boil them together for about thirty minutes, season well with a very little onion, pepper, etc., and a rich, well-flavored soup will be obtained which would pass for stock soup almost anywhere ashore. It is infinitely better than the finest tinned soup. The mutton before alluded to is often purchased by ships in large quantities and given to the men, alternating with salt beef and pork; it is also much used for making meat pies for the cabin table, for which it is well suited, the resemblance to fresh mutton being remarkable. Our last pig has just been slaughtered; it seemed a pity to kill the poor beast, for he was an intelligent, quaint little fellow, very tame, and fond of being petted. Latitude, 50° 14′ south; longitude, 90° 12′ west. +July 31+