The race proved an exceedingly interesting and exciting event, for all the vessels were fast.  The wind being off the land, the water was smooth for the first three or four hours of the race; and during that time there was scarcely a pin to choose between the _Josefa_ and the brigantine, first one and then the other contriving to get the lead by a length or two, while the brig and the barque also made a neck-and-neck race of it but very gradually dropped astern until, by the time that we had run the land out of sight, the _Josefa_ and the brigantine were leading by nearly a mile, which lead we very gradually increased.  By this time, however, the breeze had freshened up considerably, and the sea had got up, whereupon the _Josefa_ displayed so marked a superiority that she had to take in all three royals and her mizzen topgallantsail to avoid running away from the rest of us.  But, contrary to my expectations, _El Caiman_, which was an exceedingly beamy, shallow vessel, behaved so well under the new conditions that we also could spare the barque and brig our royal and still keep ahead of them.