THE SAILING-MASTER. 125 



Aii'l he is something of a philosopher, for he declares 

 that he will have all the comfort he can o-et when oft 

 duty J while he does not seem to regard any sort of 

 exposure, and is quite careless of himself, when on 

 duty ; and besides, he appears to possess that highly 

 useful fliculty of being able to do for himself any thing 

 that he may require to be done by others. He can 

 handle a marline-spike as well as a sextant, and can 

 play sailor, carpenter, blacksmith, cook, or gentleman 

 with equal facihty. So much for the man ; now for 

 his feast. 



A day or so ago I found lying on my cabin-table a 

 neat little missive which politely set forth, that " Mr. 

 McCormick presents the compliments of the officers' 

 mess to the Commander, and requests the honor of 

 his company to dinner in their cabin, on the 21st in- 

 stant, at six o'clock." And I have answered the sum- 

 mons, and have got back again into my own den 

 overwhelmed with astonishment at the skill of mv 

 sailing-master in that art, the cultivation of which has 

 made LucuUus immortal and Soyer famous, and higlih' 

 gratified to see both officers and men so well pleased. 

 The bill of fare, " with some original illustrations hy 

 Radcliffe," set forth a very tempting invitation to a 

 hungry man, and its provisions were generally fulfilled. 

 There was a capital soup — jardiniere — nicely fla- 

 vored, a boiled salmon wrapped in the daintiest of 

 napkins, a roast haunch of venison weighing thirty 

 pounds, and a brace of roast eider-ducks, with currant- 

 jelly iind apple-sauce, and a good \'ciriety of fresh veg- * 

 etables^ and after this a huge pluiti-pudding, unported 

 from Boston, which came in with the flames of Otara 

 flickering all around its rotund lusciousness ; and then 

 there was mince-pie and blanc-mange and nuts and 



