But several days must still elapse before the breezes would blow right from the west.
This part of the Pacific was always deserted.

No vessel showed itself in these parts.

It was a latitude truly forsaken by navigators.

The whalers of the southern seas were not yet prepared to go beyond the tropic.

On the "Pilgrim," which peculiar circumstances had obliged to leave the fishing grounds before the end of the season, they must not expect to cross any ship bound for the same destination.
As to the trans-pacific packet-boats, it has been already said that they did not follow so high a parallel in their passages between Australia and the American continent.
However, even if the sea is deserted, one must not give up observing it to the extreme limits of the horizon.