"Do tell us about conger eels! What sort of creatures are they?"

"Odd creatures enough; and if you grapple them, they will grapple you. They run nine or ten feet long, and sometimes weigh a hundredweight. The fishermen on the Cornish coast catch a great number of them, with lines more than a hundred and fifty yards long, with threescore baited hooks. I have known a conger twist himself so stiffly round a man's legs as to throw him down.”

"We will have nothing to do with conger eels, Captain!"

"Better not, boys; every one to his station. Let the fisherman attend to his fish, and the schoolboy to his books; that's the way to make way through the world. But see, we are near the harbour; and as it is easy to enter, and has good anchorage, we cannot do better than stand for it. I have been your commodore, and now I will be your harbour-master."

66 What is a harbour-master? We never heard of one before!"

"A harbour-master is an officer whose duty it is to inspect the moorings, and to see that the harbour regulations are properly observed. Well! now we are safe moored for the present."

66

Oh, what a beautiful ship! And here is another! Look at the bird! It is a cockatoo. What a top knot he has and how he climbs up the cage with his beak! This is a cocoa-nut; but what the other things are, we cannot tell."

"You shall examine them all. This is the jaw of a

C

shark that was caught off Barbadoes, in the West Indies. We were lying to, that is, we were making little or no way, and some of the hands wanted to bathe, for it was very hot; but two or three sharks were seen darting about near the stern. A piece of salt beef was stuck on a large hook fastened to a chain, and the chain was made fast to a rope. This was hoisted overboard, and presently a spanking shark turned up his silvery belly a little on one side, and took in at once the beef, the hook, and a part of the chain."

"The sailors were glad of that, no doubt."

66

Ay, boys! Sailors are too fond of cruel sport. It is all well enough to destroy God's creatures when they are wanted for food, or when they annoy us; but needlessly to inflict pain and death, is not to be justified. However, they hauled the shark on deck over the taffril, slipping a running bowline-knot down the rope, half over his body; his tail was then cut off with an axe, and with boarding pikes they soon finished him."

"Poor fellow, he fared but badly. cockatoo come from?"

Where did the

"Cockatoos are found all over India, and the Indian isles. That one came from the Philippines, in the China sea, and a saucy fellow he is, as ever wore a topknot. See how his red eye sparkles! This stuffed animal is a chameleon. You have heard of the creature, I dare say; he is found in Syria, in the south of Europe, and in the north of Africa."

"Yes, we have heard of the chameleon changing into all manner of colours, and living on the air."

Ay, boys, strange tales are told in the world. The chameleon feeds on insects, and his colour is changed, principally, by the great quantity of air that he draws in; this makes him more transparent, and also affects his blood, so that his colour is more rapidly changed than that of any other animal. See, this is the snout of a sword-fish. Most likely the fish took the ship for a whale, for he rushed at her, and left his sword, which snapped off, sticking fast in her hull.”

"What a vicious creature he must have been!"

"We ought not to blame him for the nature that God gave him. The sea is full of wonders, fish of all kinds, and things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts,' Psa. civ. 25. We are poor ignorant creatures, and understand not God's designs. If we knew more than we do, we should plainly discern his power, his wisdom, and his goodness. Truly may it be said, 'The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods,"" Psa. xcv. 3.

“Please to tell us about the ship; this ship with so many masts, and sails, and so much rigging. Please to tell us all about it?"

"If I tell you half about it, you need ask me no questions about any thing else. That is a model of a firstrate man-of-war, of a hundred and twenty guns; and a finer model never was rigged.'

*The reader will be assisted by the picture on page 20, and by the following description.

A, A, A. THE HULL. This term, in a general sense, comprehends the vessel, exclusive of masts, rigging, and sails.—B. The bows,

“It is beautiful.

Please to begin at one end of it, and go all through to the other."

figure-head, cutwater, etc.-c. The stern.-D. The rudder.— E. The mizen shrouds.-F. The main shrouds.-G. The fore shrouds.

MASTS.―a. The main-mast, in three lengths, including the mast, top mast, and top-gallant-mast; the royal mast being the elongation of the top-gallant-mast.-b. The fore-mast, similarly divided. —c. The mizen-mast, similarly divided.―d. The bowsprit.-dd. The jib-boom, beyond which extends the flying-jib-boom.— -e. The mizen-boom.-ƒ. The mizen-gaft, the outer extremity of which is called the mizen-peak.-g. The sprit-sail-yard.—h. The martingale.

SAILS.-1. The Main-sail, suspended from the main-yard.—— 2. The main-top-sail, suspended from the main-top-sail-yard.— 3. The main-top-gallant-sail, suspended from the main-top-gallantyard.-4. The main-royal, from the main-royal-yard.-5. The foresail.-6. The fore-top-sail.-7. The fore-top-gallant-sail.—8. The fore-royal.-9. The mizen-top-sail.-10. The mizen-top-gallantsail.-11. The mizen-royal.-12. The mizen-sail, with its respective boom and gaft.

STAYSAILS.-13. The fore-top-mast stay-sail, running upon the fore-top-mast stay.-14. The jib.-15. The flying jib.-16. The main-stay-sail.-17. The main-top-mast stay-sail.—18. The maintop-gallant stay-sail.—19. The mizen-stay-sail.—20. The mizentop-mast stay-sail.

STUDDING SAILS.-21. The fore-studding-sail.-22. The foretop-mast ditto.-23. The fore-top-gallant ditto.—24. The foreroyal ditto.-25. The main-studding-sail.-26. The main-top-mast ditto.-27. The main-top-gallant-mast ditto.-28. The main-royal ditto.-29. The mizen-top-mast ditto.-30. The mizen-top-gallantmast ditto.-31. The mizen-royal ditto.

BRACES.-ee. The main-brace.-ff. The main-top-sail ditto.-gg. The main-top-gallant-sail ditto.-hh. The fore-brace.-i. The fore