Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-06-09
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1919.

place fsrpermission to lay before OUT re'u,
ora a copv of the following letter received
nv him from an officer. or board the L. ..
shin Ontario, native of this place. This
letter will we doubt rot be read with lnte-
rest by every one: it is replete with good
sense. and eyinces that the writer, who lett
this place an inexperienced youth lew
wears ago, has made GOOD use Of his time.
His example is worthy OF imitation.
Winchester Gasstte.
Copu Ola letter from an officer on board The
II S. ship OntGrio, to has friend IN his
place. dated U. S. ship Ontario, !anndpo'
lis, .3prii 25th, 1878.
"Once more, my dear sir, have safely
returned to 'the land oSsthe free, and the
heme of the brave.
Nineteen months have rapidly passed
away since took leave of my dear coun-
try for cruize in the Pacific ocean. When
I look back it appears as but dsy-yet
during that deg I have sailed in all my
zigzag rambles over nearly fifty thousand
miles of old Neptune's empire. The many
strange places have seen, and the great
variety Of interesting objects presented 10
,he eye may in some degree account for
the apparentra pidity of old Times flight
but il is nevertheless melancholy truth,
that as our years increase in number, they
seem gre atty to decrease in length.
wished very much for an opportunity
TO write you from the Pacific, but met with
none that presented reasonable prospect
of your ever getting the letter. could
4 there have given you much interesting news
If you feel, as presume every American
does, interested in the great cause now
pending in South America.
The period of our arrival in Chill was
perhaps the most eventiul one in the hI>to-
~ of that country since the conquest. Sut
asyou have long since been made acquaint-
ed, through the medium of newspapers,
with the important occurrences OF that day,
shall no, here trouble you with a repeti-
ton of them, but, pursuing the intention
with which SIT down shall proceed to give
you sketch Of the movements OF the On
tario during her absence from the United
States. In doing so | shall! make, princi-
pally, plain extracts from my journal-and
avoid as much as possible entering into
particulars. which would perhaps tire more
than amuse you. mast here, however,
observe, that should you feel no relish for
the dry remarks of sailors journal, the
papers are in your hands and may easily
be committed TO the flames.
The FIRST port we put into was Rio ia
metro (HraziD where we spent but ten days
refttng, &c. &c. Thence directed our
course towards Cape Horn-we passed that
dreadful point Of terrors about the Isl oflJa-
nuar, 1918 have never been in cline
80 ho;s'er"us and disagree able as that about
the Cape-rains ami storms prevail almost
lnccss4n,ly-the sea rolling in mountain
waves; your trembling bark one moment
scars Among the clouds, and the next sinks
swiftly between the ioaming pillows as it
never To rise again.
II was midsummer when we passed it,
and c, nsequently we had almost continual
day -light-.th sun making bat small
sweep helnw the boiizon, where he remain
ed only five hours and halt. left US t"i-
light in his absence, which, had the wea-
Their heen clear, VI ouli have been equal to
the full moon.-The weather was not so
cold as we had expected to find it, even at
that season, in so high latitude as 50 de-
grees south-lhe mercury stood al from 10
TO Is degrees of FarenheIt's thermometer.
After buffeing the storms for fifty five days,
during which we lost one man overheard,
aud carried away some Of our light spars,
we cast anchor in the bay OF Valparaiso,
(Chiii.)
VALPARAISO is small, i'll contrived, dirty
town, stuck against the side of a red clay
hill that scarce affords helbage for goat.
The houses are generally very small, mean
ly built, with brick floors and tile roofs--its
population is from four to FIVE thousand
souts-they are very easy in their manners
and hospitable to strangers. After stay
there of six weeks we sailed for Lima Pc
fu) where we arrived in twelve days-we
gave the vice king of Peru the first inior-
nation of The defeat of his army al the ia