y sea
than by land; but some of his mad pranks will surprise you.

A long time after the Thames Tunnel was begun, under the river at
London, and when thousands and tens of thousands of pounds had been
spent, in an angry mood he set his foot against the bottom of the
river, and crushed the in tunnel. Since then he has behaved better, and
allowed them to finish the work; but, for a time, this prank of his
occasioned great confusion.

I have seen him myself, in his tantrums, play terrible tricks; I once
met him at the Falls of Niagara, where he roared like a Bedlamite,
foamed at the mouth worse than a mad dog, and at last flung himself
headlong from so high a precipice that he was dashed into a thousand
pieces. Whether the Americans and Canadians had used him ill, or not, I
will not say, but certain it was, that his rage appeared unbounded.

You will think that what I have already said of Giant Roar is bad
enough; but on one occasion he was even yet more ungovernable, for
rushing abroad in his fury, he destroyed more lives than ever had been
destroyed at one time since the world had been made. Many of his
victims struggled hard with him to the utmost; but he came upon them by
surprise, and they were neither swift enough to escape, nor strong
enough to resist him.

Giant Blow is kind, whimsical, mischievous, and dangerous, by fits. One
day, as I went by the common, he was good-naturedly helping a group of
school boys to fly their kites. I hardly think they could have managed
without his assistance; but, in ten minutes after, he tore two of their
kites all to shivers. The same day he snatched widow Woodward's shawl
from her back, and went off with it, broke half a dozen clothes lines,
tossed about the clothes, and then, all at once, violently pushed down a
large stack of chimneys. You see by these actions how little he is to be
relied on.

Giant Blow is a great traveler, for he sailed round the world with
Captain Cook, and helped Columbus to discover America. Indeed Columbus
could not have gone without him. Were he and Giant Roar to withdraw the
assistance they give to seamen, it would at once put an end to all
merchandise, and not a single ship would be able to sail upon the seas.

But though Giant Blow is one of the best friends in the world to
sailors, he often treats them very harshly, knocking their vessels to
pieces, and flinging them into the raging deep. Hundreds of gallant
ships, and thousands of hardy tars,