140 Adventures of Natffragus. [AUG. 



from the shore, indicated an approaching storm. I hurried into the boat, and 

 giving the receipt to the boatman, who was a Mahommedan, I desired him to 

 shove me on shore, putting into his hand my all the dollar, which worked a 

 talismanic effect ; for in five minutes I was, for the first time in my life, on the 

 shore of Prince-of- Wales Island." 



" The feeling of sailors on leaving their floating home, to which habit has 

 reconciled them, has been often the subject of remark : thus, 1 once heard the 

 sailors of a ship called the Mary, when she was in flames in the river Hooghly, 

 exclaim* with the greatest tenderness, as they abandoned her to her fate* Fare- 

 well, Mary ! poor old ship! good by, old girl !" and some of them were seen 

 to shed tears : and even I could not help, when the boat was conveying me on 

 shore, taking a silent farewell of my ship but especially of my friend Smith 

 and the captain, both of whom I much esteemed* Here 1 am/ said I to myself, 

 when I touched the shore, * left, with all the world before me; and be thou, kind 

 Providence, my guide !' " 



The writer is, evidently (we should say), not an author by profession, 

 He decidedly, indeed, wants the capabilities to sustain such a character. 

 )3ut, on this very account, the effect of some points in his narrative, is 

 immensely increased. 



The details of his school experience, and of his sufferings afterwards, on 

 hoard the India ship, are given with the earnestness here and there with 

 ihe somewhat unreasonableness which distinguishes a man who pleads 

 Iris own cause* His description of his being sent for from school by his 

 uncle, who looks at him for some time without saying a word, and then, 

 at the same moment, dispatches a note off to a slopseller's, to get him 

 fitted out with " necessaries," and sends him away ten miles into the coun- 

 try to wish his father and mother good-bye, will, at once, stamp the veracity 

 of the tale with most of the " orphan nephews" that may happen to read 

 it. After quitting his ship, he wanders in the woods of Pulo Periang for 

 near three days, watching occasionally from a high hill, until he sees the 

 vessel leave the port, and being amused, in the meantime all which is 

 described with grcai naivete at the tricks of the monkeys and the snakes, 

 while almost starving for want of some better food than cocoa-nuts, and 

 wild pine-apples. At length, to his great relief, the ship actually gets 

 imder weigh, and " stands out by degrees/' until she becomes " a mere 

 speck iri the horizon ;'' and now, being wholly destitute and friendless,- 

 he takes a course which none but a boy would have heart to take, but 

 which nevertheless was not unlikely as turned out to be the fact in the 

 event to prove successful : 



" Seeing a man in the dress of a native following me very closely* I ventured 

 to ask him if he spoke English ? * Yes, my lord.'- ' Well,' said I, '"tell me who 

 is the greatest English merchant in Penang I mean the richest ' * Ogilvie, sa- 

 hib.' * Good again,' I replied. * Now then, my friend, pray take me to Mr. Ogil- 

 vie's house.' In a short time I was ushered into a princely mansion, and soon in 

 the presence of Ogilvie, sahib, (or Mr. Ogilvie). I addressed him, saying that I 

 presumed to call on him as a British merchant, to acquaint him with the step which 

 I had taken, and the causes which had led me to adopt a scheme so desperate ; and 

 ended my tale, by requesting that he would either give me, or procure for me, 

 employment on shore, in any industrious occupation ; at the same time assuring 

 him, that his aid would be found not to have been misplaced. He seemed per- 

 ftctly astonished ; and it was some time before he replied * Young gentleman, I 

 feel much for the unprotected state in which you are placed in this settlement; 

 and, if I may judge from your appearance, you would not abuse any aid which 

 I could alford you : but, indeed, you cannot remain in this island the gover- 

 nor himself could not permit you to remain here : but if you will call but no 

 here he conaes here he comes.' " 



