"Poor Admiral Kempenfelt! What a rich place the bottom of the sea must be !"

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Ay, boys, many a well-rigged, richly-freighted ship has gone down through the deep dark waters; but the ships and their merchandize were nothing compared to the loss of human life. By and by, the sea will give up its dead, and great and small will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. What a day will that be for us all! Little will it matter then, boys, whether we have lived upon the land, or sailed upon the ocean. Happy those who, with a willing mind, have obeyed the great Captain of their salvation.

"But now scud away, boys! and forget not what you have heard from the old sea Captain.'

Heaving the lead-To heave a-head-To heave astern-To heave at the capstan-To heave a flag aboard-The ship BountyCaptain Bligh sails from Spithead-Cape Horn-Cape of Good Hope-Otaheite-Bread-fruit plants-Captain Bligh seized in his cabin―The mutineers, headed by Christian, force him and eighteen others into a boat-They are turned adrift on the wide ocean-The mutineers sail to Toobonai, and then to Otaheite -They take away some of the natives, run the ship Bounty on an island, and set her on fire-Captain Bligh meets with great hardships, but gets safe to land-The Pandora frigate goes in quest of the mutineers-Part of them brought home, and three executed-Pitcairn's Island-Christian-John Adams-The

islanders.

"Good day to you, Captain! Good day to you. We

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want to know what is the meaning of heaving the lead.' You have told us about the log,' now please to tell us about the lead.""

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"The lead, boys, is an instrument for measuring the depth of the water. It is a piece of lead weighing eight or ten pounds, fastened by a strap to the lead-line, which may be about twenty fathoms long. The bottom of the lead has a hollow, which is filled up with tallow, that makes known what sort of ground it strikes against; and the lead-line is marked, at different distances, by pieces of black leather, and coloured rag. What is called thedeep-sea-lead,' is much bigger, for it weighs from twenty to thirty pounds, and has a longer line than the other. To heave the lead,' is to throw it properly into the sea, to measure the depth of the water.

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"Thank you, Captain! Thank you."

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Heaving,' is quite a sea phrase. To heave a thing overboard,' is to throw it into the water; to ‘heave a-head,' is to draw a ship forward, by pulling at a rope fastened to an anchor; to heave astern,' is to draw the ship backwards, in the same way; to 'heave at the capstan,' or at the windlass,' is to turn it round with handspikes; to heave a flag aboard,' is to hang it out; and there are a great many terms about 'heaving,' besides these. Having told you about the loss of the Royal George, if you are disposed to listen, you shall now hear about the loss of the Bounty, by mutiny."

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We will be sure to listen to every word. We should like to know all about the mutiny.'

"You know that a mutiny is a rising up against those

who are in command.

I could tell you of many mutinies; but, one thing at a time,' is a good motto: so now for the mutiny of the ship Bounty. "We are all attention, Captain.'

"Well, then, we will get under weigh without loss of time.

"It was in the Bounty, a ship of two hundred and fifteen tons, that Lieutenant Bligh set sail from Spithead, on the 23rd of December, 1787, with a crew of men and officers, amounting to forty-six. His ship was right and tight, and his men equal to their duty; and I suppose the commander thought but little of the breakers a-head, or the squalls that he afterwards fell in with.'

"What part of the world was he sailing to? a hot country, or a cold one?"

"The people who live at Otaheite are not very subject to cold weather; and I never heard of much frost and snow, boys, at the West Indies. Lieutenant Bligh was bound to Otaheite, to get a cargo of bread-fruit plants; and these plants he had to take to the West Indies; for it was thought, that if bread-fruit trees prospered there, they would supply a great deal of food for the inhabitants, with very little trouble."

"Come, that was a good errand to go upon had he ever been at Otaheite before?"

"Oh yes; for he had been there with Captain Cook, on a voyage of discovery. Well! A seaman can't always do what he would, and Lieutenant Bligh could not clear Cape Horn. He tried hard for it; but after thirty days' buffeting, the helm was put a-weather, and

he ran for the Cape of Good Hope. It is often the case at sea, that

Where the winds blow

A sailor must go.

The lieutenant had no more business at the Cape than you have; but it is the Almighty alone who can gather the wind in his fists: to the Cape he was compelled to go, so that he did not get to Otaheite till ten months after he quitted Spithead."

"That seems a long while, however !"

"Though he looked about him sharply at Otaheite, it was six months before he could get his bread-fruit plants on board. When he had procured a thousand of them, he again weighed anchor, with the West Indies for his destination."

"We hope he did not get buffeted about so much this time."

"You shall hear. A man never knows for an hour together, either at sea or on land, which way the wind will blow; and the commander of a ship may be out of his reckoning without knowing it. A storm was brewing on board the Bounty, that the commander could not bear up against; never was a seaman taken aback more suddenly.

"What do you mean by being taken aback?"

"A ship is said to be taken aback, when a sudden shifting of the wind presses the sails against the mast: a careless helmsman sometimes brings this about. But you shall hear how it fared with the lieutenant. It