which are exceedingly plentiful at Trinidad, and squirrels and birds, are often very destructive to both tree and fruit. Cacao is prepared for market in the following manner: the pod having been gathered from the tree by the hand, or by means of a hooked pole, where that mode is impracticable, from the branches being too high, it is collected into large heaps on the ground, and allowed to soften, or sweat, as it is termed by the planters, for three or four days. The pods are then opened, by means of a longitudinal cut, with a strong knife or bill, called a cacao-knife, or bill, and the seeds and pulp extracted with the fingers, and thrown into another heap, where the mass is allowed to sweat for two or three weeks more. At the end of this period, fermentation has loosened the seeds from their pulpy bed, when they are easily separated from it, and taken to the drying-house in baskets. The nuts are now daily spread in the sun upon a large cemented, or sometimes only carefully swept, esplanade, in front of the drying-house, where they are turned frequently and carefully, during the day; at night, they are again housed. The drying house is furnished with large trays, in which the cacao is received during the process of drying, and which can be run out at ports in the side of the building, when the uncertainty of the weather may render that plan advisable. The operation of drying is continued for about three weeks, more or less, according to the favorable or unfavorable state of the weather, when the nuts become sufficiently dry, and are packed for sale and shipment. Coarse bags, made of Oznaburgs sacking, having been prepared, each large enough to contain a fanega in weight, they are filled with the produce, which is now ready to be conveyed to market, in Port-of-Spain, on mules' backs, or in carts, as the nature of the roads will admit, where it is usually immediately sold, and shipped for Europe, as it is an article which deteriorates by keeping. The cacao-tree is cultivated to a considerable extent in South and Central America; but, in the former country, by no means to the great extent that it was before the Declaration of Independence from the mother country, by its several republics. It is grown with great attention, and to a very large extent, in Mexico, where, Humboldt tells us, it was extensively reared, so far back as the time of Montezuma, and whence, it is supposed by him, to have been transplanted into the other former dependencies of the Spanish monarchy; an opinion which one may be allowed not to coincide in with that great man, since it has been ascertained by more recent travellers, that excellent cacao is to be found growing wild in the forests of the interior of British Guiana. The names whereby the plant, and the confection prepared from its seeds, are recognized at the present time, are, indeed, both derived from the Mexican language, a circumstance which might have been imagined to favor the supposition, but which of itself, obviously, is entitled to little weight. The tree is called by that people, cacava quahuitl, the meaning of which I do not know, but which, in all probability, on reference to a vocabulary of the Mexican tongue, by those curious enough to do so, will be found to be descriptive of the nature or use of the plant. The confection, and the drink made with it, are termed chocolatl, a name which I am fortunate enough to know the origin of, with pretty certain accuracy. Choco is the Mexican-Indian word descriptive of a thick sound, such as is produced by beating or stir ring a thick liquid; and latl means drink, or beverage; so that the entire word, which suits the sense to the sound, exactly comes up to what we mean by a milled-drink, and what, in the West Indies, is yclept, (although, however, in a more spirited practice,) “swizzle.” But, should my friends be not satisfied with this verbal analysis, let them agree that the first component of the word is the name of the province of Choco, in Mexico, where chocolate was first most used as an article of food, of meat and drink. In the time of the Aztec kings, the seeds of the cacao were made use of as money in Mexico, a use to which they are still turned in some parts of it, the smaller seeds being employed for the purpose. The lowest denomination of coined money current in Mexico is a silver coin called a real, which is of the value of about fivepence; and, as there must arise many petty transactions of business to a lower amount, the convenience of these seeds, about sixty of which are reckoned as of the value of a real, must needs be very great. The best cacao is produced in the province of Soconusco, in Mexico, but the produce there is so small, that it barely supplies the people of property in that country, for which reason very little is sent to Europe, where that little brings an exorbitant price. The second kind in point of goodness, is that of Machala, Ironcoso, and Motoria, in the state of Guatemala; the fourth, that grown on the banks of the river Magdalena, in the republic of New Granada; the fifth, that of the island of Trinidad, and of which I now treat; the sixth, that of Caraccas, in the republic of Venezuela; and the seventh, that of Guayaquil. Europe, during the dominion of Spain over them, was chiefly supplied from the abundant crops of the two last places, but since their independence, a comparatively small quantity is exported by them. Trinidad now furnishes a large portion of the demand. There are, besides the modern ones, several treatises on cacao and chocolate, which are curious and learned, by Bartholomew Marradon, who was a doctor of Marchena; Antonio Colmenero, of Ecija; and Dr. Philip Silvester Du Four. All of these authors agree in giving to chocolate, and all the other preparations from the cacao, a very high character for the possession of great nutritive qualities. I have myself personally used it a great deal, watching most narrowly its effects upon my system, and have always found in it a most wholesome, nourishing, and delicious refreshment, qualities which some have denied it, in their crude, captious, or fanciful attempts to decry it: the more it is used, with a real intention and spirit to allow one's palate and digestion to be their own unbiassed judges, the more will it be appreciated. Foreigners know how to value it; why should not Englishmen do so to its full extent, except the reason be found in John Bull's old character for hesitation, in not adopting novelties, until the rest of Europe have almost got tired of them. In conclusion, we recommend the Trinidadians and other West Indians who have investments in plantations of it, to stick to their cacao, for it is an easy, light, and gentlemanly culture and occupation, which a man could enact in pumps and silk stockings, and that without spoiling his complexion; although its price be not too encouraging; it is not one third of what it was in 1816. But, would it not be wise in them to represent their sufferings to the powers that be, in Downingstreet, a little more frequently and energetically than they seem yet to have done? Has the quaffing of theobroma in the West Indies the same effect on gods and men there, in making them oblivious of their interests, as Lethean sources too often produce in higher regions, as respects the claims of large bodies of suffering men? Let the planters mind their game, and cacao will yet turn up as a large trump. From the Lancet. ON PRUSSIC ACID AS A POISON. any certainty; it can be produced from animal fibre or from blood; for the purposes of commerce it is procured by heating hoofs and potash in an iron crucible, and its extreme proneness to decomposition would present another still more serious difficulty; unless made from the ferro-prussiate of potash, it changes in a few hours into ammoniacal compounds. The cyanuret of potash prepared as advised by Professor Liebig, by heating the oxide of manganese with the ferro-prussiate of potash, in two hours commences to evolve ammoniacal vapors, and within the twenty-four hours, is entirely decomposed; the deadly poison is by SEVERAL cases have lately been painfully brought chemical combination changed into the stimulant, before the public attention, in which prussic acid which undoubtedly is its most efficient antidote. has been used for the purposes of suicide and of It is true, the advance of science has rendered the murder; the first feeling excited is that of surprise evidence of chemists of a far different character that the sale of so terrible a poison should be so from that tendered on the trial of Sir Theodosius unrestrictedly allowed; unless for some improper Boughton, upon which the fact of poisoning by purpose, it can scarcely ever be required by the prussic acid was considered proved after an internon-professional man, and the danger and skill ment of seven years; the evidence theu considdemanded for its preparation would be some safe-ered as most conclusive would now but expose the guard against its manufacture by any but chemists. incapacity of the witness. In a late inquest, the The plea under which it is generally obtained is fact of the surgeon not being aware of the ease to destroy some animal; but the instantaneousness with which this fatal poison could be made from of the death produced by this acid, even in its most urea and animal bodies, deteriorated his otherconcentrated form, is much exaggerated. There wise valuable evidence; and chemists are the is a short, but a very distinct interval between the more called upon for care, as the judges have taking of the poison and death: animals destroyed lately considered it necessary to check the imporby it give a cry singularly expressive of pain, and tance which chemical evidence so naturally exerted are strongly convulsed from the apparently acute on the minds of the jury. The analytical chemist agony they suffer; nor do we think that even on should not tender his evidence as if he regarded it the grounds of saving some old favorite animal as conclusive or otherwise of the guilt: in Madame pain it is preferable to laudanum, and yet only on Laffarge's case, the verdict depended upon the this plea is it ever vended. discovery by Professor Orfila of a minute portion of arsenic, which had escaped the researches of six experienced chemists, while that strong link of circumstantial evidence which established the guilt was comparatively overlooked; but here the poison can even perform its deadly task without being swallowed. Dr. Collier witnessed a case where a lady steeped some fur into the poison, and then endeavored to swallow it. The piece stuck in 'her throat, and though aid was immediately given, she perished. Had sal volatile been freely given, it would have been nearly impossible for any chemist, however skilled, to have recognized, by the most delicate test, the presence of this poison after a few days; yet Captain Donellan was executed for the murder of Sir Theodosius Boughton, by the administration of an essence of bitter almonds; now, the evidence of the existence of an extremely volatile poison could not, after seven years, have been depended upon; and the more particularly as the witnesses, without exception, fell into the serious error of asserting that the decay of the corpse commencing immediately after death was an undoubted proof of the administration of poison. Experience has since proved the gross inaccuracy of this absurd statement, yet in the summing up of the judge we find this assertion urged most strongly against the prisoner, while the strong and damning facts of his possession of a book giving instructions to prepare the poison, and the apparatus required to prepare it, with the sudden death of the young man to whose property he succeeded, were passed over. The death was here accompanied with great agony, and where the poison is so weak as to allow a struggle, the pain is evidently of a most severe character. The evidence of the witness on the inquest on Mrs. Belaney, most painfully showed this; the acid was here, indeed, so weak, For suicide this poison has over all others this terrible advantage; when once the fatal phial is to the lips, no earthly power can stay the course. Antidotes are useless. Almost ere the alarm can be given the deed has been accomplished; and even if an antidote were at hand, with the quantity taken, in nine instances out of ten it would be useless; and when first taken the nervous system is so violently affected as to render the approach, even of a friendly hand, dangerous; the teeth are firmly fixed; and when the sufferer falls exhausted, the poison has spread too far into the system to be counteracted, even though the antidote were administered within the few seconds that life then remained. In debarring the suicide from this deadly poison, we could not hope to prevent one determined to put an end to his existence from effecting his deadly purpose; we will admit this in its fullest extent to those who advocate its sale upon the grounds that were it forbidden, a plunge from a bridge at night, a rope, or a fall from some high place are still within his reach; or even if excluded from these, oxalic and other corrosive acids producing death with the most intense agony are still left. But the cause is here marked out: time in every poison, save this, is afforded to the sufferer to free others from suspicion, but here a method of murder is offered by which, if care is taken, it would scarcely be possible to detect the murderer-a sudden fall, a person is seen applying sal volatile, and all traces of the poison are immediately lost; suspicion would indeed scarcely arise; if it did, a country surgeon would recognize the familiar smell of ammonia. It is undoubtedly true, that even though united to ammonia, the presence of the acid might be shown by delicate tests; but the composition of prussic acid is against that had the slightest energy been displayed she might undoubtedly have been recovered. The judge, on the trial of this case, appeared to give but little weight to the evidence of the chemists and physicians, and this we fear will be even more strongly marked. We admit that the positions taken by the chemists and physicians would, if admitted, have superseded the necessity of legal inquiries; one of the most scientific stating, as in the case of Mr. Macnaughton, that the mind of a man capable of committing a murder could not be in a sound state, and that the criminal required the application of medical instead of legal correction, to renew the harmony between the passions and their counterbalancing faculties. COOKING AND LIVING IN PARIS. "Nothing about Paris strikes. a stranger with more surprise than the quiet manner of conducting its business. You see little or nothing of the noise and bustle of other great cities. Neither the hum of commerce nor the din of manufactures are heard. There is more stir about the basin at Albany, with greater demonstrations of business, than is to be met with in all Paris. You even wonder how such a vast population are supplied with provisions; and the wonder how they all The prussic acid, prepared as directed by the support themselves is much greater. We, howPharmacopeia, is very dilute, containing two per ever, are strangers to the rigid system and habits cent. only of the acid. The strength of Scheele's of economy that prevail here. I am assured by which is continually referred to by physicians, is an intelligent American, who has been long here, not known, the professor having in his form omitted that the expense of victualling Paris, with its to state the quantity to be distilled over. The million of mouths, does not exceed that of victualfirst quarter of an hour would, therefore, if the ling New York. Nothing is wasted here, while operation were carefully conducted, yield an acid, in New York enough is thrown away daily to feed three drops of which would destroy a small animal; a hundred thousand Parisians. French science in while that prepared by another chemist who would cooking is everything to Paris. Many of their most continue the distillation for several hours would be delicate, as well as their most frequent dishes, are weaker then the dilute acid directed by the Phar- made of things which we reject as garbage. Many macopeia. This great difference in the preparation of their most delicious soups are compounded of of the acid has_produced several fatal accidents, materials which we have never dreamed of eating. particularly in France, where, to secure uniform- Indeed, there is no part of a creature, from its ity, Gay Lussac introduced the plan of producing horns to its hoofs, out of which the French will acid of the highest possible strength. Cyanuret not serve you up a savory dish. I came here with of mercury was decomposed by the addition of its own weight of strong hydrochloric acid; the receiver was kept cool in ice and salt, the acid distilled by the gentlest heat passing over dry chloride of lime to absorb the excess of water; in this way an acid is procured the inhalation of which is sufficient, during the trifling escape inseparable from the most careful distillation, to produce headache, and occasionally stupefaction; flies near it are observed to fall dead, and while transferring it to a bottle the operator is forced to hold his breath. Acid of this terrific strength is not kept by any chemist in England. Majendie, the celebrated French physiologist, on the other hand, recommended an acid weaker than that prepared by our Pharmacopeia, mixed with a syrup; but at his own hospital the dreadful preparation of Gay Lussac was administered for his own; the medicine was poured out and swallowed, and nine or ten had taken the dose before the fatal convulsions of the first patients showed the mistake. Remedies were immediately given, and some, we believe three, were saved; but as if a fatality was to be attached to this medicine, no sooner is it recognized by physicians and admitted into our Pharmacopeia, and every chemist required to keep it, than we find it the general weapon for murder or for suicide; and though an unobjectionable form is given in the Pharmacopeia, physicians still adhere to the uncertain form of Scheele. The advocates of the strong acid have but to increase the dose of the Pharmacopeia preparation to ten drops, to satisfy themselves that giddiness and other signs of too large a dose are produced by this, the dilute acid, with the same certainty as with even the strong acid of Gay Lussac. Prussic acid consists of charcoal, hydrogen, and nitrogen; the known affinity of the two latter to form ammonia is the cause of the tendency of the acid to be decomposed, and the cyanate of ammonia being itself a very volatile salt, renders its trace still more evanescent. a determination to eschew the refinements in French cookery, but my resolutions and prejudices have yielded, day by day, and dish after dish, until I now eat whatever is set before me, taking care to smother all that looks like horse steak, cat stew, or rat pie, in tomatoes. I have eaten as many varieties of soups, since I came to Paris, as there are sub-divisions in a New England sermon, or verses in a chapter of the Book of Chronicles; and for the most part I must say that these 'pottages' are excellent. With beef and vegetables, a French cook will serve you a capital dinner, in three courses, for one franc. The tendency of French cooking is to diminish the quantity of meat, and to increase the proportions of bread and vegetables consumed; and another and more important result of the perfection of their art, is to greatly diminish the expenses of living. Bread and wine, or perhaps I should say wine and bread, are the staples of life in France. You see Frenchmen in cafés, in gardens, and by the road side, dining not only contentedly but cheerfully, upon red wine and dry bread. I look from my window into the apartment of a humble French family, who dine daily from a single soup, with wine and bread. The bread here, for families, is baked in rolls a yard long, and stands by the table with one end upon the floor, while the other rests against the wall. In commencing dinner, the master or mistress of the family cuts a slice, and then passes the loaf round the table, each cutting for themselves, and then the roll is again placed upright against the wall. "It is said that from thirty to fifty thousand of the inhabitants of Paris rise in the morning without knowing where or how they are to get either a breakfast or dinner. This class, for the most part, neither work nor beg, but in some way or another, enough sticks to their fingers, during the day, to enable them to procure the necessaries of life-wine and bread." From the Polytechnic Review. THE UNIVERSAL SALVAGE COMPANY. to the one made of wrecked vessels on the coral reefs round the small island of Anagada, West Indies, by order of the house of commons, in 1824, such a survey would astonish the world that so much valuable property should have lain so long, and almost daily increasing by other wrecks, within the immediate reach of the first maritime nation, without any effectual means, on a large scale, being adopted to recover them. We frequently read that such a vessel has sunk, the SINCE Our last number, this company has so far advanced, that it is most probable that it will be enabled to come into early operation; we have read with much attention the prospectus it has placed before the public, and we have no doubt, whatever, that to a maritime and commercial nation it is likely to prove of the highest value; the following extract is one that will be consid-crew saved or drowned as the case may be, the ered conclusive: "The history of the casualties of the royal and commercial navies of this great maritime country affords melancholy proof of the immense losses annually sustained by shipwreck. Indeed, so great is the amount of treasure and valuable property sacrificed to the sea, that the wrecks which lie submerged in the seas of Europe, especially on the coast, within the latitudes of 36 and 56 degrees north, and in known localities, are calculated to contain property to a greater amount than could be found in a tangible shape upon the surface of the two kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. This immense treasure receives constant augmentation from wrecks occurring upon the different coasts of Europe to the estimated amount of about four millions annually; and these wrecks, in many instances, occasion other wrecks from the obstructions, and especially the foul anchorage, caused by them, when ships are sunk on anchorage ground. In the years 1835-6, this interesting and important subject was investigated by a committee of the house of commons, who, in making their inquiries, selected two periods of three years each, viz. first, from 1816 to 1818 inclusively; and secondly, from 1833 to 1835 inclusively; and reported according to Lloyd's books, that, in the first period, the total number of ships or vessels wrecked or missing appeared to be 1203; and in the second period 1702. About the middle of the last century, one hundred vessels were lost in a single gale of wind at the port of Cadiz. These facts sufficiently demonstrate the magnitude of the losses occurring from vessels wrecked at sea, and the importance of any attempt to retrieve them. Such attempts have not been unfrequent; and the most usual have been by means of the diving-bell. In the year 1683, (about a century after the first exhibition of the diving-bell in Europe before the emperor Charles V. of Germany,) William Phipps, founder of the noble house of Mulgrave and Normanby, formed a subscription, to which the famous General Monk, Duke of Albemarle, largely contributed, for searching and unloading a Spanish galleon, sunk about fortyfive years previously, on the coast of Hispaniola (St. Domingo.) After one or two failures, Mr. Phipps succeeded, and returned in 1687 to England, with treasure amounting to 300,000l. sterling. The tenth part accrued to the king; the Duke of Albemarle's share was 90,000/.; and subscribers of 1007. received 10,000l. each from the adventure, Large, however, as was the fruit of this enterprise, the result obtained from the use of the diving-bell, in cases of salvage, is but partial and incomplete; nor is it improbable that an amount of treasure remained in the galleon, after the operations of Mr. Phipps, larger than that which was recovered by him." If a survey were made of the wrecks which surround the coasts of the United Kingdom, similar public lament the occurrence, the parties interested set about recovering the loss of property from the underwriters, the claim is adjusted, and both parties endeavor to forget the catastrophe as soon as possible; although the vessel, worth several thousand pounds, has sunk in twenty fathoms water only, her position easily ascertained, every facility to pass chains round her to recover her, nevertheless there she lays given up as lost forever. Take, for instance, the Phoenix steamer, sunk off Dungeness, and many others we could mention; it is to be remembered also that several vessels of war lay sunk at Spithead upwards of fifty years, and that it is only within the last few years, that the application of the galvanic battery and the improved diving dress, induced the government to recover the effects of part of those vessels by means of the tedious and dangerous process of diving, and by the former to destroy the vessels by blowing them to pieces, creating vast labor to recover the fragments. Many persons imagine that when a vessel has sunk she is immediately destroyed by the action of the waves; such generally is the case in very shoal water, on rocks, &c., but when the depth of water is beyond the swell or break of the sea, such vessel will remain whole for many years; for example, the numerous foreign vessels of war and others sunk many years back, whose position and condition are well ascertained; also the Mary Rose, one of Henry the Eighth's ships, sunk off Spithead near three hundred years back; the divers have visited her, ascertained her position, several guns have been raised from her, and they have reported that although she is covered with innumerable shellfish, she appears whole and in fair condition; and an opinion has been expressed by those capable of giving one, that she could be raised by the power of the atmosphere applied according to Mr. Edward Austin's patent method. Really, this is so interesting a subject that we must beg permis. sion to call the attention of the scientific world to the fact that a vessel of so ancient construction lies in a moderate depth of water, within a short distance of the shore, that it is capable of being raised by the application of the above invention, and placed in one of her majesty's docks at Portsmouth. Several individuals have lately, by means of the diving dress, realized considerable sums of money from wrecked vessels on the coast of Ireland, in the Mediterranean seas, the Azores, &c.; and one of the steam tug companies at Liverpool, during the last year, recovered a vast amount of cargo from wrecked vessels; and they placed in the hands of Lloyd's agents at that port upwards of £20,000 recovered from one vessel; also, during the last four years, another party has been working by the same means successfully in various parts of the Mediterranean. They visited the bay of Navarino, and recovered several brass guns 18mo. from the Turkish vessels of war sunk in that port | A Brief Sketch of the Life of Joseph Lancaster. (upwards of 100 including the transports.) The Including the introduction of his System of EdGreek government had employed their divers pre- ucation. By WILLIAM CORSTON. viously to the depth of nine fathoms, which was their limit, when the parties alluded to arrived and Bell and Joseph Lancaster. Having so lately had [THE Eclectic Review has an article on Dr. carried on their operations to eleven fathoms ; but the pressure of the water became so great and a long notice of the former in the Living Age, we distressing to the men that they could not descend omit most of that part of the review.] to a greater depth, and the pursuit was given up, leaving immense wealth untouched, and the more wealthy and large ships sunk in deeper water, and in still weather are easily discerned. The same divers entered into a contract with the Turkish government to receive fifty per cent. on all they recovered from their vessels. They operated by the same means on the Turkish admiral's ship, on board of which the wealthy Turks had placed their treasure during the revolt at Scio; this vessel took fire and sunk; from it they recovered much valuable plate and a brass gun weighing between six and seven tons. These successful ventures have been kept quiet for certain reasons, but such and similar facts clearly prove that if parties with limited means and power can accomplish so much, there is an ample field open for the "Universal Salvage Company," with capital and unlimited lifting power, to realize immense wealth; for they are unshackled by any expensive machinery or establishment. Their operations are expeditious and economical; having accurately ascertained the value of the proposed ship to be raised, her exact position by their simple and ingenious method by buoys on the surface of the water, the probable expense to accomplish the object is easily known. The large per centage of thirty-three and one-third per cent. which the salvors are entitled to by law, must, if their business be conducted with common prudence, enable them to pay a large dividend on their shares as well as to restore a vast amount of property to underwriters and others, who, in many instances, have been ruined by the sad and melancholy catastrophe, shipwreck. Joseph Lancaster was born in Kent Street, Southwark, on the 27th of November, 1778. His father was a Chelsea pensioner, who had served in the British army during the American war. To the pious example and early instruction of his parents he always attributed, under the divine blessing, any acquaintance he possessed with the power of religion. "My first impressions," he says, "of the beauty of the Christian religion were received from their instructions." There is a touching beauty in his own account of himself as a little child, retiring to a corner, repeating the name of Jesus, and as often reverently bowing to it. "I seemed to feel," he says, "that it was the name of one I loved, and to whom my heart performed reverence. I departed from my retirement well satisfied with what I had been doing, and I never remembered it but with delight." This little incident was an epitome of the man, and, inconsistent as it may seem to be with his future religious profession as a member of the society of Friends, it truly shadowed forth the enthusiastic, not to say passionate feeling, which through life so eminently characterized him. At the early age of eight years he was pondering the Gospels in secret retirement and delight, his heart" filled with love and devotion to God,' with "breathings of good-will to the human race,' and with "desires to devote his life to the service of God." At fourteen, Clarkson's Essay on the Slave Trade came in his way, and alone, and without taking counsel of any one, he determined to go to Jamaica, to teach the poor blacks to read the word of God. Mr. Corston's narrative of this adventure is so brief and simple that it scarcely admits of condensation :— Another important feature proposed by this company is to establish a steam vessel, or more, in a position, especially during the winter months, that "With a view to accomplish his purpose, he is likely to be of essential service to ships in dis- left home for Bristol, without the knowledge of tress entering the Downs or the river Thames. his parents, having only a Bible, Pilgrim's ProNumerous are the instances of vessels perishing, gress, and a few shillings in his pocket. The with their crews, in sight of hundreds of spectators first night he slept under a hedge, and the next on shore, without possibility of aid being rendered under a hay-stack. On his journey, he fell in with them by the present means; and although there a mechanic who was likewise going to Bristol. are upwards of thirty steam vessels employed as They walked together; and as Joseph's money tugs on the river Thames, strange to say, there is was all expended, his companion sustained him. not one of them fitted with proper anchorage gear, On arriving at his destination, he was pennyless, or the means to recover them in rough weather, or and almost shoeless. He entered himself as a to continue for any time in a gale of wind exposed volunteer; and was sent to Milford Haven the to the action of the sea without being herself next morning. On board, he was at first the object destroyed; therefore, it is impossible that such of much ridicule, and was contemptuously styled vessels can render assistance to a ship in bad parson. The captain being absent one day, the weather. These are facts beyond contradiction, officers asked him if he would preach them a serand are well known to the pilots; we therefore mon. He replied, Yes, if you will give me hail with satisfaction the proposal that a steam leave to go below for half an hour to read my vessel be constructed, combining all the late im- Bible.' They said, 'O certainly, an hour if you provements, and capable of continuing under choose." When he came up, there was a cask weigh in severe weather to render assistance to ships on entering the Thames, which, no doubt, will be the means of saving many valuable lives and much property; and from the sums of money realized occasionally by the class of vessels just described, the expectation is justified that a handsome profit will be obtained on the capital so employed. 6 placed upon deck, and the ship's company were all assembled. Having placed him upon the cask he proceeded to lecture them upon their habits of profane swearing, drunkenness, &c., at first much to their mirth and amusement; but after a little they began to droop their heads, when he told them if they would leave off these wretched practices, repent, and turn to the Lord, they might still be |
