CHAP. XXVI. BERTHS FOR TWO. 87 



vessel left a small triangular space, about eight inches in 

 breadth, for the head, and four times that measure for 

 the feet. 



' Lie, man — why, at full length, to be sure,' was the reply. 



' Did they ? Where did they put their heads ? ' 



' Why, they slept heads and points, to be sure.' 



'But how did the man whose liead was here keep 

 clear of the feet of the man whose head was there ? ' 



' They made a bargain, before they turned in, that they 

 should n't touch one another's faces with their feet.' 



This evidence not being satisfactory, it was decided 

 that each berth should have but one tenant, and that 

 those who were not accommodated should establish them- 

 selves on the lockers, and try not to slip off when the 

 vessel rolled. 



Our captain was a Nova-Scotian by birth, but ' raised ' 

 on the Gulf. He had tried his hands at cod-fishing, 

 mackerel-fishing, whahng, and had made a trip with tlie 

 Yankees, saving a little money at each turn of the 

 wheel ; finally, ' he bought the biggest share in his 

 schooner, and intended coasting awhile.' 



We all slept 'like rocks,' and the following morning 

 found us becalmed in sight of the St. John mountains. 

 The day was bright, cloudless, and sultry. Anticosti, 

 showing its terraces of most ancient fossiliferous Ume- 

 stones, loomed high in the south ; the Mingan coast, 

 wonderfuUy magnified and distorted by mirage, lay 

 towards the north. From morning tiU. night, masses of 

 seaweed floated past, as we held our own against the 

 feeble current, aided by fitful pufis of wind. Different 

 forms of mirage are very common in the estuary and 



