"QUEM VIRUM AUT HEROA.” HORACE, ODES I. 12. I. WHAT man, what hero shall the Muse proclaim, From Helicon's dark groves or Pindus' dells profound, And bind the listening oaks to his melodious lay. 2. Sing first of him who throned above Rules gods and men, the earth, the sea, And circling planets-Jove, He reigns supreme-alone- 3. Pallas in honour next; and thou 4. Sing Hercules and Leda's sons, The Horseman-god, the athlete bold, When from their starry thrones Their silver beams they pour The surge subsides upon the rocky shore, The clouds disperse, the storm is heard no more, Sleeps on an Ocean still. 5. Say next what Roman claims the Poets' pen? Regulus, or Paullus who on Canna's field 6. Marcellus' glory like a tree Groweth in secret, silently: The Julian planet blazes from afar Like the full Moon that dims each lesser star. 7. Guardian and sire of men, in whose strong hand The Parthian ever threatening war, May he, 'neath thee, in justice rule the world! STEPHEN E. DE VERE. GREAT STEAMSHIP LINES. III. THE SOUTH ATLANTIC AND MAGELLAN'S STRAITS. TAKING it all round, the North Atlantic trip is not a pleasant one; it is certainly hazardous, and the passenger can scarcely expect to escape "hard weather" of some description, even if he avoid cyclones or a gale on the green waters of Newfoundland's banks. The passage to the south and west is of a very different character. When one is acquainted with the western ocean, and has experienced the biting winds of its desolate colourless seas, it is like taking a yacht voyage to go more south to Jamaica, Colon, Trinidad, or to Pernambuco and the Brazilian coast. To run down the north-east trades even to a malarial country, for in all these places yellow-fever is endemic, is preferable to encountering North Atlantic weather, and if the voyage be extended further south, through the southeast trades, past the snow-bound Falklands to Magellan's Straits, where gales are perpetual, the sight of a land which is picturesque and interesting will atone for many disagreeables. From Magellan himself down to Darwin, there have been travellers who have touched even the barren desolation of the western part of the Straits with that personal interest which is given by the stories of courage, endurance and skill of the seaman, and the scientific discovery which implies all three qualities. Interesting as the North Atlantic is, the South Atlantic surpasses it in variability of charm; it is more the great ocean: by reason of its very greatness we must under present conditions go slower upon its surface, for the steamers which may run 3000 miles at 20 knots can barely reach a record of 14 when the distance is twice, thrice, or even four times as great. For it is over 6000 miles to Buenos Ayres, and 11,000 to Callao through the pass discovered in 1520 by Fernan de Magelhaen, The prevailing winds in the North Atlantic are westerly. Going to the West Indies we get partially into the region of the trades; voyaging to Brazil we pass through those of the northern hemisphere. These trade-winds blow all the year round in both hemispheres, and impart a peculiar character to the latitudes between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. They are due, of course, to the ascending air currents about the equator. The air which rushes in to supply the equatorial vacuum would, if the earth had no diurnal motion, blow from the north and south directly, but the daily motion draws the two currents to the west, and makes them north-east and south-east trades. They vary very much in strength; sometimes they are light breezes in which a sailing vessel can carry all her "stunsails," if indeed she has not discarded these rapidly dying aids to progression, which do little good beyond supplying the foremast hands with work-and sometimes they blow with nearly the force of a light gale. They usually die a degree or two north or south of the equator. Yet once I remember getting heavy south-east trades two and a half degrees north of the line, which we crossed on a taut bowline at eleven knots. Steamers do not trouble about the Doldrums or region of equatorial calms, but I have counted fifteen sail boxing the compass a few miles north of the line, waiting for every catspaw to put them a little nearer the trade they wished to catch. steamer goes straight through the oily sea, which is calm, but not without a faint swell, whose crests, discerned with difficulty, are far apart, and mark a coming wind, or one which has passed by. Whether true or not, it is a common opinion at sea that a swell may herald wind which is yet unfelt, and unnoted by the sailor's knowledge or barometric warning. The The service of steamers to North America, to the Dominion of Canada, and the Straits is simple. Although the distance is long enough, it is in character similar to the services of Continental boats which ply between Dover and Calais, Folkestone and Boulogne, Harwich and Antwerp. The main notion is to get the thing over. However comfortable a passenger may be, the vessel cannot become his home in a short week. Moreover, there are no intermediate ports. When we are at Queenstown or Moville we have not yet left the United Kingdom. But when we go south by way of Portugal to the Argentine, or further still to Valparaiso, the character of the voyage changes. We go slower, we stop oftener, we get to know people, we part from them, make new acquaintances, see half-a-dozen countries, become vaguely acquainted with a hundred curious customs, and find at the end of the passage that the vessel has become a home to us, that we have put down roots, become part of an organism. And this is only part of the difference. Going to New York, the passengers are English, German, or American. The passengers are practically all Teutonic, although a few Scandinavians may come among them. Going south, there is a very large proportion of the Latin races; Italian, and Spaniards, who talk a language which is truly Spanish and guttural, or softened and South American, are taken on board. The southern lines are more cosmopolitan, more mixed in the racial characteristics of their passengers. They also go slower, as I have said. There is some parallel between the American who wants to "do" Europe in three weeks and the rate of speed at which he comes, just as there is between the Spaniard and the lesser rate of travel which does not weary him as it would a Teuton, or Saxon, or American. Two English lines have, to a great extent, the monopoly and command of the South American trade. These are the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, sailing from Southampton, and the Pacific Steam Navigation, whose headquarters are at Liverpool. As far as the east coast of South America is concerned, these two powerful companies are rivals. On the west coast the Royal Mail has no steamers, but by its West Indian boats takes passengers to Colon, whence crossing the Isthmus of Panama they can go south to Peru and Chile by the vessels of the Pacific Steam Navigation. On that route to the south-west of America these companies work harmoniously and play into each other's hands. The Royal Mail Packet Company received its charter in 1839. But it was 1842 before their first vessel left this country. She started from Falmouth, which was then prosperous; there were at that time no docks at Southampton. The speed of vessel that the Company contracted for was only 8 knots. It is now 13, and that is sometimes exceeded. In my first article I pointed out that the lost Oregon only required 55 tons of coal at 10 knots, while at 17 or 18 (if, indeed, anything could have driven her at that speed) she would have required over 200. This is the reason that ocean steamers on long passages cannot run at the highest rate of speed. A twenty days' passage would require 4000 tons of coal. Manifestly there would be no room on board for cargo. Once the Pacific Steam Navigation tried a |