Is it any
wonder, if we should become, in time, a nation of mere gossips? As for
my passengers, even Neb got to consider them as so many nuisances.
From some cause or other, whether it was having these loose-tongued
people on board or not, is more than I can say, but certain it is,
about the time Salem was handsomely cleaned out, and a heavy inroad
had been made upon Boston, that the weather changed. It began to blow
in gusts, sometimes from one point of the compass, sometimes from
another, until the ship was brought to very short canvass, from a
dread of being caught unprepared. At length, these fantasies of the
winds terminated in a tremendous gale, such as I had seldom then
witnessed; and such, indeed, as I have seldom witnessed since. It is a
great mistake to suppose that the heaviest weather occurs in the
autumnal, spring, or winter months. Much the strongest blows I have
ever known, have taken place in the middle of the warm weather. This
is the season of the hurricanes; and, out of the tropics, I think it
is also the season of _the_ gales. It is true; these gales do not
return annually, a long succession of years frequently occurring
without one; but, when they do come, they may be expected, in our own
seas, in July, August, or September.
The wind commenced at south-west, on this occasion, and it blew fresh
for several hours, sending us ahead on our course, at the rate of
eleven knots.
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