o the bottom, leaving my grandfather
floating alone on the surface of the ocean.

"My grandfather navigated the long-boat fifty-two days, three hours,
and twenty minutes by the ship's chronometer; caught plenty of fish
with his fish-hooks; boiled sea-water in his sauce-pan, and boiled
all the salt away, making his fire in the bottom of the boat, which
is a very good place, for the fire can't burn through without touching
the water, which it can't burn; and finding plenty of fuel in the
boat, which he gradually dismantled, taking first the thole-pins, then
the seats, then the taffrail, and so on. This sort of thing, though,
could not last forever, and at last, just in the nick of time, he came
across a dead whale.

"It was floating bottom upward, covered with barnacles of very large
size indeed; and where his fins projected there were two little coves,
one on each side. Into the one on the lee-side he ran his boat, of
which there was nothing left but the stem and stern and two side
planks.

"My grandfather looked upon the whale as an island. It was a very
nice country to one who had been so long in a boat, though a little
monotonous. The first thing that he did was to erect the banner of his
country, of which he happened to have a copy on his
pocket-handkerchief; which he did by putting it at the end of an oar
and sticking it in the ground, or the flesh, whichever you please to
call it. He then took an observation, and proceeded to make himself a
house, which he did by whittling up the remains of the long-boat, and
had enough left to make a table, a chair, and a boot-jack. So here
he stayed, quite comfortable, for forty-three days and a half, taking
observations all the time with great accuracy; and at the end of that
time all his house was gone, for he had to cut it up for fuel to cook
his meals, and nothing was left but half of the boot-jack and the oar
which served to uphold the banner of his country. At the end of this
time a ship came up.

"The men of the ship did not know what on earth to make of this
appearance on the water, where the American flag was flying. So they
bore straight down toward it.

"'I see a sight across the sea, hi ho cheerly men!' remarked the
captain to the mate, in a confidential manner.

"'Methinks it is my own countrie, hi ho cheerly men!' rejoined the
other, quietly.

"'It rises grandly o'er the brine, hi ho cheerly men!' said the
captain.

"'And bears aloft our own ensign, hi h