me. I knew what it indicated, for I had seen several sharks before. To
gain the ship without encountering the monster seemed impossible. I
therefore, instead of swimming on, stopped and trod water, beating the
surface with my hands, and shouting out. I saw some of the men leaning
over the sides with ropes. Presently there was a shout. One of the men
had lowered a rope with a bowling knot into the water, when the shark in
its course round the ship ran its head and upper fin between it. At
this moment it was secured to the cathead, and before the brute could
get free it was hoisted on deck. I now darted forward, and seizing a
rope which hung over the side hauled myself up. As I saw the monster
floundering on deck, I was thankful that he had not caught me in his
jaws.

"You have had a narrow escape, my laddie," observed Mr McTavish. "It
will be a lesson to you not to swim about in these latitudes."

Not many other incidents worth relating occurred for some time.

We touched at Valparaiso, where we discharged some of our cargo, and
afterwards at Callao, where we got rid of a still larger quantity. We
also put into Paita farther north. As goods brought in English vessels
were subject to a very high duty, or were altogether prohibited, they
were smuggled on shore. Had I been so disposed I might on two or three
occasions have made good my escape, but I was relying on the promise of
Mr McTavish. From the coast of Peru we steered to the Sandwich
Islands, of which I should like to give a description. We there took on
board three of the natives, to supply the place of the men who had been
lost. The king and a brace of queens, besides several chiefs and a
number of white men, visited the ship. The king and his brown consorts
came in a large double canoe, formed by lashing two canoes together
separated by bars. Each canoe was paddled by twenty or thirty men. On
the bars was raised a kind of seat, on which the ladies reposed.

Raised considerably higher than his consorts was a sort of throne placed
on the top of a large arm-chest full of muskets, and on this his
Sandwich Island Majesty was seated in regal state. In front of him
stood a dark-skinned native, carrying a handsome silver hanger in
imitation of the sword-bearers of European monarchs; behind the king sat
a boy holding a basin of dark-brown wood, in which his Majesty ever and
anon spat abundantly. Instead of a crown the king's head was covered by
an