| 41 barque Domingo; our business-to preach the gospel. We cast off from the pier at Stuart Street wharf at three o'clock in the afternoon, and at sunset were outside the Golden Gate and upon the bosom of the broad Pacific. After dark, and when the coast became shut out from our view, we still kept watch on deck until the government light on North Point disappeared below the horizon, when we bid our final good-bye to America, and all that it held dear to us, and went below for the night. On the next morning nothing was to be seen from the deck of our vessel but the vast expanse of troubled water beneath, and the sky above, limited only by an uninterrupted horizon; but the light blue of the water showed that we were still "on soundings;" and the great number of seabirds reminded us that land was at no great distance.
Bro. Rodger was suffering from seasickness; but in a couple of weeks he got his "sea-legs" on, and then he was "all right." . . .
On the second morning the deep ultramarine blue of the water showed that we were "off soundings;" that we were fully upon the bosom of the great deep. Here was the time for a multitude of thoughts to unbidden come, compelling us to a rigid examination of ourselves; showing the sacredness of the trust confided to us, of carrying to a remote portion of the earth the pure gospel of the Son of God, and the message of love that we bear to the misled sons and daughters of the covenant. We can only pray for strength and opportunity; for wisdom, integrity and industry in the pursuit of our calling, leaving results in the hands of Him who hath called us.
On the fifth day out we were called to witness a burial at sea. One of our passengers had suddenly died. . . .
The weather continuing fine, and the wind fair, we made on the average about one hundred sixty miles per day. We watched the North Star in its continual change of altitude, until in latitude twelve degrees north we lost sight of it altogether. I spent a great deal of time in a critical examination of the "Lute of Zion;" "Fresh Laurels;" and the "Sabbath-school (double) Bell;" making selections of the choicest gems for use in Australia. It was a pleasant occupation, and I found myself well repaid for my trouble.
On the l9th of November, in latitude nineteen degrees, twenty-five minutes north, longitude one hundred thirty-five degrees, fifty minutes west, at about nine o'clock in the forenoon, I saw a novel sight; it was nothing less than a sperm whale in the air! He leaped from the water directly across my line of vision; and, during the five or six seconds he was in the upper elements, he must have gone his entire length (about sixty feet). As he struck the water the ocean all around him was lashed into foam. It was grand! Besides him we had seen a large finback, who crossed our bow at a quarter of a mile distant; and a grayback, who played around the ship for perhaps a quarter of an hour. Besides these, and a sperm whale, feeding near the Australian coast, we saw no whales
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