y. "He seemed ready enough to grasp anything
he could lay his claws on."

The doctor said he could find neither a plant nor a lichen on the
island, and only a few insects and spiders, besides the boobies and
noddies. I ought to have mentioned that we did not fail to meet with
the moist and oppressive weather found under the belt of calms under the
equator. Frequently I felt as if I could scarcely breathe, and nearly
everybody was in low spirits and ready to grumble. Jerry and I vowed
that the air was abominable. Cousin Silas stopped us.

"Remember, lads," said he, "what the captain was telling you. If it
were not for them mists, how could the rivers of the north be supplied
with their waters, and the fields of our own land be made fertile?
Thank God rather that you are thus enabled to see more of the wonders of
creation."

I never forgot this remark of Cousin Silas. A delightful writer, now
well-known, describing the subject, calls it "The Circle of Blessing."
[Mrs Alfred Gatty, in her "Parables from Nature."]

Making sail, we soon lost sight of that white-topped rock. Soon
afterward Gerard rushed down one morning at daybreak into our berth,
and, rousing me up, told me I was wanted on deck. Half asleep, I jumped
up, and slipping my legs into my trousers--for no other garment was
required in that latitude--ran with him where he led me forward. I had
scarcely got my eyes open when I found myself seized by two shaggy
monsters; and hearing the sound of a conch shell, I looked up, and saw
before me, as if he had just come over the bows of the ship, a
strange-looking personage, with a glittering crown on his head, a huge
red nose, long streaming hair, and white whiskers as big as two mops.
In his hand he held a trident, and over his shoulders was worn a mantle
covered with strange devices.

"Trite!--where's Trite? Come along, Trite!" he exclaimed, in a gruff
voice--which sounded not altogether unlike that of old Ben Yool's--as he
looked over the bows; and presently he handed up a lady of very ample
dimensions, who certainly, except for a petticoat and a necklace of
shells, I should not have suspected to have belonged to the fair sex.

"Oh, there you are, my lovie! We must be sharp about our work, for we
have so many ships to board that we haven't a moment to lose. Now, if
there are any young shavers who hasn't crossed the middle of my kingdom
before, let them be brought up here in quarter less than no time,