I had labored under the erroneous impression that sea-sickness was bred of fear and terror, and would attack only women (of both sexes) and children of tender minds and frail constitutions.  But, when the waves commenced to roll higher, and the ship began a ceaseless rocking, which was in direct opposition to the wants and comfort of my system, as all manner of swinging ever was, I began to have fears that it was not fright, but swinging, that made people sick at sea.  The inner man threatened to rebel, and I made my calculations how much higher the billows might swell, before stomachs would be apt to revolt.  We sailed out of sight of the land before dusk, by which time, however, numbers of ill-mannered stomachs had given evidence of their bad humor.  Though I nodded but once or twice to old Neptune, during the entire voyage, still I suffered much during the first five days, from the pressure of intense dizziness and headache, occasioned by the incessant rocking of our vessel upon the restless waves.  We had a very fine passage, as the sailors would say, but it was far from being as fine as I had always fancied fine sea voyages would be.  The rocking of the ship would never be less than about two feet up and down in its width of thirty feet.  When the winds blew hard and the waves rolled high, it swung some, twenty or twenty-five feet up and down at its bow and at the stern.  The highest waves that we saw in our outward passage were probably from twelve to eighteen feet.  That the rocking or swinging of the ship, is the one and only cause of sea-sickness, may admit of a question; but that it is the principal cause, there can be little doubt.  My observations and experiences in five or six voyages (long and short) did not point to any other cause.  As the sea air is generally regarded as more salubrious and healthier than that on land, it can certainly not be a cause of sea-sickness.  Fright and terror, in a timid person might perhaps aggravate the disease in few instances, though it seems doubtful, to say the least.  When the sea is calm and smooth, everybody feels well, even if the vessel swims in the middle of the Ocean; but let a storm come on, and the number of sick will increase in proportion to its violence.

Whales.

On the second day of our voyage, in the afternoon at about 4:00 o’clock, we came across a shoal of whales.  There must have been two or three dozen of them.  They apparently avoided our ship, as only a few made their appearance very close by, though we sailed through the midst of them.  They swam about leisurely near the surface, betraying their whereabouts frequently by spouting; but occasionally they would rise considerably above the surface of the water, and expose large portions of their bodies to our view.  The excitement occasioned among all on board, by the appearance of so many of these terrible monsters, greatly quickened our dull spirits, and tended much to alleviate the lonesomeness occasioned by the monotony of the sea voyage.