Excerpt from The Adventures of a Captain's Wife Going Through the Straits of Magellan to California in 1850 My husband was fitting out his steamer for a voyage elsewhere, when he was summoned to take command of a steamship to California, and this being in the Spring of 1850, the beginning of the gold excitement, he was glad of this Opportunity of seeing this wonderful country. On the morning of our departure all was bustle and confusion. Each buoyant with the hope of reaping rich rewards. It was an extraordinary undertaking, such a trip at this period, and the gathered friends dreaded to say good-bye to those who were going upon so long a voyage. There were steamboats ready to take any one down the lower bay as far as small crafts could safely go; these boats were glad to turn head with their sea-sick mortals on board. Those who were not afraid to be let down from the ship into small boats remained on board with us. In a heavy sea this is not a pleasant undertaking. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.