HINTS TO ARCHERS. 371 



flush. Knowing this, I had taken care to provide myself with a 

 brace of water-dogs, and found them very useful. 



I never shall forget the first evening I arrived at Boston. Cram 

 had invited many congenial spirits to meet me, and I never passed a 

 pleasanter time. Of course our favourite weapon bore a prominent 

 part in the conversation. Cram gave us a very interesting account 

 of a vessel foundering near the coast, which was the means of eluci- 

 dating a curious fact ; he wished to prove a superiority of instinct in 

 the scaly inhabitants of these waters, over those of every other. It 

 was no uncommon thing, he said, after that event, for the fishermen 

 to take a kingfish clothed in a bed-gown of Manchester stripes ! a 

 shark was killed with a Guernsey shirt on ; a whole shoal of por- 

 poises were seen with red night caps, and a guard fish was hooked 

 that wore a gauze veil ! A gentleman, however, from Trinidad, a 

 Mr. Muscovada, denied the intellectual superiority of the American 

 fish over those of the West Indies; "and to prove it," observed 

 Muscovada, " I remember once after the Thunder frigate was 

 wrecked in the gulph of Paria, one of our whale boats harpooned a 

 grampus, who, it was found, had the man-of-war's mainsail tied round 

 his neck for a cravat !" What do you think of that ? said he. Cram 

 was floored. 



But the most curious sporting anecdote I remember was told me 

 by Cram, one evening over our brandy-and-water ; as he was the 



Earty concerned, it may be relied on. We were speaking of Eng- 

 ind^ and I was relating to him the different societies of Bowmen. 



Among other persons the name of his sister was introduced, and he 

 mentioned several interesting anecdotes of her skill, when she was a 

 member of the " Hainault Foresters." I happened to mention having 

 been much pleased with the letter he had written to his sister, which 

 I had the good fortune to read, and, at his wish, related the points of 

 it. (t Ah ! my dear Captain," said he ; " that letter was written under 

 very singular circumstances ; I never knew till this moment what 

 I wrote, although from your repetition, I have only, related the facts 

 as they occurred." I expressed some surprise, and he continued : 

 " The fact was, I had been to a party that day, and had so astonished 

 the natives with my skill upon our weapon, that I believe I over 

 exerted myself. When I returned, I commenced writing to my 

 sister, as the packet was about to sail, and I remember well writing 

 the words ' My dear sister," and when I tell you that I wrote the 

 whole of that communication, to which you allude, fast asleep, I tell 

 you nothing more than the fact ; and what is more, actually folded, 

 directed, and sealed it, and should not have waked, had I not burnt 

 myjtngers with the wax ! 



