unseen deep down therein for evermore; we leave, and in departing, gaze with strained eye towards lessening spire and tower with the last silent look of a friend; and what more is death than this?

To beguile the time and increase our mutual pleasure we had weekly assemblies, at which each contributed to the information and amusement of the whole company; with what result some of the succeeding chapters may partially disclose.

"It was in my native town of Scarborough," said the captain, "that I imbibed the elements of learning, at the knee of an ancient matron; who, in consideration of a small weekly stipend, introduced eighteen alumni through the mysterious portals of the temple of knowledge; six received their lessons simultaneously, the other twelve, divided into two brigades, being employed in the meantime in the intellectual operation of mangling, half tugging at the rope fastened to one end of the loaded box which constituted the pressing machine, and six thrusting at the opposite end; and this system of industrial education she justified on the principle that

"Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do."

When the day had passed satisfactorily, a handful of sweetmeats would emerge from the capacious pocket of the venerable dame for distribution amongst the laughing youngsters; and often on the bright long summer days our studies and mangling gave place to a walk around the Castle Hill, or on the fine open sandy beach, or to Oliver's Mount, where our ancient friend, gathering us about her, would pour into our wondering minds strange tales of the old castle, built many hundreds of years ago; of Gaveston, King Edward's favourite, who was starved out of the strong place and obliged to surrender; of the curious Pilgrimage of Grace, in the reign of great King Henry, on which occasion a large army of enthusiasts, preceded by priests, carrying crosses, and banners bearing devices of crucifixes, and the name of Jesus on them, had in vain striven to drive out the governor and his troops; of the siege of the grey old towers by Cromwell, to whose all-conquering sturdy troopers the partisans of King Charles opened the gates; and in these latest wars she told us her ancestors had borne their part. Outgrowing the limits of her sphere, the next educational functionary whose care I underwent was so much more interested in the discussion of politics at the "Bear and Ragged Staff" than in the performance of his scholastic duties, that my progress would have been small, even had death not clipped the thread of my father's life; whenceforward a rough-hewn, but good-natured uncle undertook to induct me into the duties of a sea-life, and began his instructions by boxing my ears whenever I manifested symptoms of sickness, to divert attention from the stomach, or, as he nautically termed it, give me another "point of departure."

My sea career was soon temporarily suspended; for, as on one occasion, we were beating down the English channel, our ship deeply laden with coals, we incautiously stood over too near to the French coast, were chased by a fast-sailing privateer, the ship taken, and the crew made prisoners.

At first my boyish alarm was great, but the many kindnesses

D

received from the ladies connected with the prison officials speedily re-assured me.

During our captivity the senior officers instructed the younger of the crew, and thus my general and professional education were greatly advantaged by this compulsory residence on shore.

Two long years were spent in exile, during which, although scantily clothed, almost shoeless and indifferently fed, we performed many a weary march from prison to prison, the place of our confinement being continually changed. The dark-eyed daughters of France, compassionating our forlorn condition, oft refreshed us with bowls of milk and rosy apples, accompanied with sympathetic utterings: "Pauvres mâtelots Anglais, pauvres garçons Anglais." At the expiration of this period, on the occasion of a cartel or exchange of prisoners we were liberated, and in the course of my after wanderings I visited most of the bustling crowded ports of England, the burning West India islands, with their swarthy negro labourers; the magnificent islet sprinkled harbour of Rio de Janeiro, the hot City of Palaces, Calcutta, the low sandy shores of Africa, the timber ports of Canada, and experienced the stormy seas and rough weather of an Archangel voyage late in the season; at length I began my whale fishing life, and made the beautiful port of Sydney my resting place when not cruising in my vessel, watching the monsters of the deep. Respecting these gigantic beings of whom so little is known I will now give you such information as many whaling voyages have enabled me to accumulate.

The great whale fishery may be divided into two sectionsthe object of chace being in one case the sperm whale, and in the other the black, common, or Arctic whale, and in explaining the difference I will commence with the sperm whale.

The sperm whale (physeter macrocephalus) inhabits the open ocean of both eastern and western hemispheres, but abounds only in the warm seas of the globe. These swimming beasts sometimes attain to the length of eighty feet; the head, which is nearly one-third of the whole length of the body, being from eight to

nine feet in depth, and from five to six feet broad, and the circumference of the body about thirty-six feet. The sperm whale has a roundish tubercle in front over the eyes, called the bunch, and a rounded lump of fat behind, called the hump, continuing

THE SPERM WHALE.

in a ridge to the tail. The males are larger than the females. Naturalists class whales with mammalia; all the order of cetacea, or whales, breathing in the same manner as do land mammalia, by means of lungs, and not by gills as fishes. The ordinary passage of the air is through the nose (the human species alone breathe through the mouth), and the membranous portion of this organ forms one canal, but in the bony part in most animals it is divided into two; in the sperm whale, however, there is only one orifice, and what is termed the spout is formed by the expired air being forcibly ejected through this blowhole. A large whale will make sixty or seventy respirations during the time it remains above the surface of the water, a period of about ten minutes, and the aeration of the blood thus effected is sufficient to allow of its existing under water nearly an hour. Whales also suckle their young like land mammalia.

The heart is very large, and the aorta or vessel conveying the blood of the whale from the heart is sometimes twelve inches in diameter, propelling forward ten or twelve gallons at a stroke. The roof of the mouth, the tongue, and teeth, are white, and glisten in the water, and the throat of the full-grown sperm whale is sufficiently large to allow of the passage of a man; the lower jaw only is furnished with teeth, and such may sometimes be seen exhibited in shop-windows covered with ornamental carvings, executed by sailors for amusement. The upper-jaw has sockets