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¬We reached in a few days the tranquil ocean* and I marked well the peculiar birds and the sportive fishes which seemed to welcome me on my return. — The sea now becoming strongly agitated, though the Avind even slackened, I thought that the connecting channel must be near, and my hopes were not disappointed; but the entrance was so tremendous as we ap- proached it, that my courage almost forsook me. — It was as black as Hell, and the sounds which re-echoed between the rocks were hideous and distracting. — My crew (though Armatan sailors) were for a moment discomfited by this scene of horror, but I reminded them that God was in the whirlwind as in the zephyr, and a song and a dram soon settled all their fears. — As we were sucked deeper into the channel the water became less convulsed, and in a few hours, the current becoming uniformly smooth, and running with the same velocity as in my voyage outward, I knew to a certainty we were in the returning course, and took my measures accordingly. — As nothing could now occur during the months ¬which ¬
