LOADING THE LOCHINVAR. 249 



rick was rigged, a cart conveyed ashore, and they 

 at once proceeded to get off timber — engaging all 

 the unemployed ones in the place (and they were 

 not a few) to assist in the operation. Their plan 

 was, to take one of their boats, which was broad in 

 the beam, and furnished with lockers, containing 

 air-tight cylinders ; then they would lash around it, 

 and over it, as much mahogany as she would be 

 buoyant under; and as this wood is extremely heavy, 

 and sinks like a stone, their load was not a large 

 one. Then they would pull oif to the brig, where 

 it was soon hove in by the aid of the derricks. One 

 stick escaped from its lashing when alongside the 

 brig, and a boy, who belonged ashore, dove down, 

 and attached a rope to it in four and a half fathoms 

 of water, which is equal to twenty-seven feet ; hence 

 this was somewhat of an exploit. 



One day when the workmen employed on the beach 

 had lashed the timber to the boat, and had pushed her 

 ofi' — several of them wading a short distance to give 

 her an impetus — two of the men were observed strug- 

 gling, as if to keep themselves afloat. Both disap- 

 peared ; but one rose again in an instant, and grasped 

 the boat. The other was not seen for some minutes. 

 On searching, his lifeless body was discovered. lie 

 was a good swimmer, and a few strokes would have 

 saved his life ; but he had been drinking to excess a 

 short time before the accident, and to this was attri- 

 buted his inability to help himself. His body was 

 conveyed to the jail, cast into a rude mahogany 

 box, and buried within a few hours afterwards : the 

 climate here forbidding the keeping of a corpse more 

 than twenty-four hours. 



