Our new maintop-gallant-yard is all but finished and has been secured under the starboard rail till needed. A little remains still to be done to it, and these finishing touches the goblin carpenter insists on bestowing upon it in spite of the showers of spray; and it is an amusing sight to watch him pop out of his shop, snip off a few shavings, working like a demon for thirty or forty seconds, and then pop into his den again to avoid a sea. By reason of all this spray flying and damp weather, I have donned my Cape Horn red-leather slippers purchased from the slop-chest and said to be impervious to water. But they defy comfort equally well, being as inflexible as Cape Horn itself, and are spangled inside with perfect little galaxies of wooden pegs, so that I fain would have boiled them as the pilgrim did his pease. If man were provided with hoofs instead of feet, it is conceivable that he might contrive to become accustomed to these slippers; as it is, I cannot understand it. Having crossed the thirtieth parallel, we are now “off” the river Plate in the sailor’s sense, who always speaks of being off the Plate when between 30° and 40° south. At least one gale is usually experienced before these ten degrees of latitude have been crossed, though ships generally reach the thirty-fifth degree before anything happens. Latitude, 30° 25′ south; longitude, 45° 33′ west. +June 23+ A pampero! By heaven’s thunder, we are battling in the vortex of one of these river Plate howlers, with a high, confused sea, and the ship plunging heavily into it, almost denuded of canvas! Yesterday at 4.30 a reef was tied in the foretop-sail, as the wind showed signs of rapidly freshening; but there was a lull from five until midnight, when it began to breeze up again, and when we went on deck at 7.30 this morning, behold! a strong gale coming out of the west-southwest and the ship, under a reefed maintop-sail and foresail, was pounding considerably in a very ugly sea, but not taking much green water aboard. By the way, when a ship is under an upper maintop-sail, it is, of course, to be understood that all three lower topsails are set as well; and a “reefed fore- and maintop-sails” means only the uppers, as the lowers are too narrow for reef-points.