round at
the end of each successive quarter-turn gained by the men. If this
were done, all tendency in the cylinder to turn one way more than the
other would be prevented; for each of the hawsers would bear an equal
share of the weight of the anchor, and being wound upon the raft in
opposite directions, would of course counteract each other's tendency
to slew it round. The whole party of men, instead of only one-half of
them, might then mount the spars; and thus their united strength could
be exerted at each effort, and in perfect security, against the
formidable danger of the cylinder whirling back by the anchor gaining
the mastery over them, and dropping again to the bottom. But without
using their clumsy, though certainly very ingenious, machinery of
turning men into handspikes, I think," said he, "we might construct
our floating windlass in such a way that a set of small
spars--studding-sail booms, for instance--might be inserted at right
angles to its length, like the bars of a capstan, and these, if
swifted together, could be worked from the boats, without the
necessity of any one going into the water."

While speaking of the dexterity of the natives of India, I may mention
a feat which interested us very much. A strong party of hands from the
ship were sent one day to remove an anchor, weighing seventy-five
hundred-weight, from one part of Bombay dockyard to another, but,
from the want of some place to attach their tackle to, they could not
readily transport it along the wharf. Various devices were tried in
vain by the sailors, whose strength, if it could have been brought to
bear, would have proved much more than enough for the task. In process
of time, no doubt, they would have fallen upon some method of
accomplishing their purpose; but while they were discussing various
projects, one of the superintendents said he thought his party of
native coolies or labourers could lift the anchor and carry it to any
part of the yard. This proposal was received by our Johnnies with a
loud laugh; for the numbers of the natives did not much exceed their
own, and the least powerful of the seamen could readily, at least in
his own estimation, have demolished half-a-dozen of the strongest of
these slender Hindoos.

To work they went, however, while Jack looked on with great
attention. Their first operation was to lay a jib-boom horizontally,
and nearly along the shank of the anchor. This being securely lashed
to the shank, a