is called a sextant--the captain can take his ship right
across the pathless ocean, just as easily as a coachman does his coach
along a high-road. You see sailors on shore, and they seem often
harum-scarum, idle fellows, but at sea everything is done with the
greatest order, and every man and boy has his proper duty, just as the
servants in a large country-house. The crew are divided into watches,
called the starboard and larboard, or port, watches; the chief mate
commands one, the second mate the other. While one watch is on duty the
other goes below to sleep, or take their meals, except when all hands
are wanted on deck. Every hour a bell is struck to show how time goes.
Every four hours the watch is changed, except in the evening, from four
to eight o'clock, when there are two watches, called dog-watches, that
is to say, from four to six, one; and from six to eight, another. The
reason of this is that the people who are on watch at one time one
night, may not be on watch the same time the next night, which they
would be if there were six instead of seven watches, which you will find
there are in the twenty-four hours. I used to be very glad when my
first watch was over, and I was able to turn in from twelve to four,
when I had to be up again to keep the morning watch. That was no idle
time, for as soon as it was daylight we had to scrub and wash down
decks, and to put everything in order for the day, just as housemaids
put the house in order.

Night and day, fine weather or foul, a man is stationed either at the
mast-head, or yard-arm, or forward, to keep a look-out ahead for any
ship, or land, or shoals, or rocks, which may be near. Many a ship has
been lost when a good look-out has not been kept; one ship has run into
another, and both have sunk, or the ship has run on rocks not seen till
too late.

When we get near the land we use a lead and line, to learn the depth of
water. This is called heaving the lead, as the lead is swung round with
the arm to fall far ahead. There are knots on the line a fathom apart,
which we can tell by the feel.

When a ship gets in shallow water, she can anchor; but in storms the
waves are so high, and the wind so strong, that she may be torn from her
anchors and driven ashore.

When a ship gets into harbour, the sails are furled, and the anchors
dropped, but even then a watch is kept on deck.

When we got to the south of the line, we saw that the stars overhead
were al