e an epitome of the science of navigation if I attempt to explain the
mode of using them.

In shallow waters, where the bottom has been accurately surveyed, a
clever pilot will find his way with the lead. At the end of the lead a
cavity is made, which is filled with grease; and according to the sort
of mud, sand, or shells which adhere to it, he tells his position.
This, and many other parts of navigation, Mr Bell, during our night
watches, took great pains to explain to me; but it was not till I had
been some time at sea that I comprehended them clearly.

Mr Bell never spoke to me in the day-time; for if the captain saw him,
he was certain to send me to perform some kind of drudgery or other. I
was set to do all the dirty work in the ship, to black down the rigging,
to grease the masts, etcetera, etcetera; indeed, my hands were always in
the tar-bucket; but it served the useful purpose of teaching me a
seaman's duty, and of accustoming me to work. The captain and first
mate's abusive language, however, I could not stand; and my feelings
resented it even more than the blows they were continually dealing me.

I have said little about the emigrants. If my lot was bad, theirs was
much worse. They were looked upon by the officers as so many sheep or
pigs, and treated with no more consideration. Crowded together below,
allowed to accumulate filth and dirt of every description, their diet
bad and scanty, and never encouraged to take the air on deck, disease
soon broke out and spread among them. Old and young, married and single
of both sexes, were mingled indiscriminately together; and the scenes I
witnessed when I was obliged to go below turned me sick with disgust, as
they made my heart bleed with sorrow.

The surgeon had little more knowledge of his profession than I had, and
had not the slightest notion of what ought to be done to stop the
ravages of disease. He physicked indiscriminately, or bled or starved
his patients, without paying the slightest regard to their ailments.
When they died they were thrown overboard, with scant ceremony; but the
men had the greatest difficulty in tearing the bodies of the Irish from
their friends, or of children from their wretched parents; and it was
heart-rending to listen to the shrieks and howls of grief as this was
attempted to be done.

However, I do not wish to dwell on these scenes, or to discourage
emigration. I fully believe that by thoroughly cleansing the ship, a