a length, that it not only reached the ground, but I had to
tie it up as carters do their horses' tails, to keep it out of the snow.
My hair and eyebrows had increased in the same proportion, so that I
was more like a wild beast than a man. This extraordinary exuberance I
attribute entirely to my having lived so completely on bear's flesh.
When cut off it served to stuff a large sized pillow, which I afterwards
gave to the President of the United States, who sleeps every night on it
to this day.

"My old shipmates told me that they were the only survivors of the
crew--that our ship had been nipped by two floes of ice with such
violence that she was sent flying into the air full sixty feet, and
that, when she came down again on the ice, she split into a thousand
pieces, which went skating over the smooth surface for miles, and that,
of course, the bones of every one on board were broken, but that they,
having been sent ahead in a boat at the time, escaped.

"Now I do not wish to throw any discredit on my friends' narrative, but
remember that I will not and cannot vouch for the accuracy of any man's
statements except of my own.

"My friends, having got over their first surprise, invited me to enter
their hut, where I must say I enjoyed a comfortable fire and a warm
chop--though I burnt my mouth when eating the hot meat, accustomed as I
had so long been to iced food. We washed down the flesh with some
excellent rum, a few casks-full of which my shipmates had discovered
near the scene of the catastrophe, in frozen forms, like jellies turned
out of a tin, for the wood had been completely torn off when the ship
went to pieces. When our repast was concluded we whiled away the time
by narrating our adventures, and though you may have observed that I am
not much given in general to talking, I confess I did feel a pleasure in
letting my tongue run on. It moved rather stiffly at first for want of
practice; but the hot food and spirits soon relaxed the muscles, and
then it did move certainly. My only fear was that I should never get it
to stop again. We talked on for twelve hours without ceasing, and,
after a little sleep, went on again the whole of the next day."

A loud guffaw from the occupant of a distant hammock made the boatswain
stop short, and look round with an indignant glance.

"I should like to know, Mr Haugh! Haugh! Haugh! whether you are
laughing at me, or at my veracious narrative? If at me, I have to
r