The Land of the Kangaroo

Then he went on to explain that ships have been becalmed at the Equator for two months and more, lying all the time in a dead calm, just like the one through which we were passing.

"Two weeks," he said, "is a fair time for a ship to stay in the doldrums, and you can be sure it is quite long enough for passengers and crew.

"Passengers and crew sometimes die of the heat, and existence under such circumstances becomes a burden. There are stories about ships that have been in the doldrums six or eight months at a time, but I am not inclined to believe them; for a man to stay in this terrific heat for that length of time would be enough to drive him crazy.

"The steamer was three days in the calm belt of the Equator before we struck the southeast trades, and had a breeze again. I don't want to repeat my experiences with the doldrums.

"One day I heard a curious story about an incident on board an American shi