rably; for being extremely wet, and having no dry things to shift or cover themselves, they experienced cold and shiverings scarcely to be conceived.

We cannot without pity contemplate the case of these poor men thus traversing an almost unexplored ocean for 3600 miles. Their boat was sunk almost to the water's edge by the weight of the nineteen persons crowded into it so closely that they could not stretch their limbs. Exposed to constant wet and cold, their suffering from cramps was great. Their food, one ounce of bread and a half-glass of water a day, gave them little strength to endure without cover the changes of storm and sunshine. Yet we rejoice to find them. acknowledging the hand of God in his providence, and returning thanks to him for his wonderful protection of their lives. They frequently used a prayer drawn up by their commander. This prayer, which is still preserved by the family of Captain, afterward Vice-Admiral Bligh, in his own hand-writing, includes an humble confession of sins on the part of those who were

E

suffering under the Divine chastisement, invokes the Almighty's protection for the future, and contains a thanksgiving to Him who rules the sea, and who had rescued these, his afflicted creatures, from the jaws of death.

"Hitherto," Bligh says, on the 8th, "I had issued the allowance by guess, but I now made a pair of scales with two cocoanut shells; and having accidentally some pistol-balls in the boat, twenty-five of which weighed one pound, or sixteen ounces, I adopted one of these balls as the proportion of weight that each person should receive of bread at the times I served it. I also amused all hands with describing the situations of New Guinea and New Holland, and gave them every information in my power, that in case any accident should happen to me, those who survived might have some idea of what they were about, and be able to find their way to Timor, which at present they knew nothing of more than the name, and some not even that. At night I served a quarter of a

pint of water and half an ounce of bread

for supper.

The annexed engraving, from a drawing made from the originals, shows the bowl, or gourd, out of which the commander took his meals; the bullet-weight; the little quarter-of-a-pint horn mug for serving out the water; and, though last, not the least interesting, Bligh's own boat-logbook. All these are much treasured by his daughters, who kindly permitted them to be sketched.

The diameter of the gourd is rather more than five inches: the depth nearly four inches. The following words are cut

with a knife under the string:

W. Bligh, April, 1789.

Written in ink round the gourd :

The cup

I eat my miserable allowance out of.

The horn cup is about two inches in depth, and not quite two inches in diameRound it are these words written in

ter.

ink by Bligh:

Allowance of water 3 times a day.

The bullet is set in a small hasp-shaped