136 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



all was ready ; six loaded muskets and sundry pistols were 

 placed in the boat, with the most child-like confidence that 

 we would shoot off the pesky things should we be brought 

 to close quarters with our runaway shipmates. Maybe we 

 would. Maybe we wouldn't. 



Broad daylight saw us pulling around the north cape of 

 the bay; but a vain pursuit of twelve or more miles and 

 nothing in sight, convinced the captain that boat and crew 

 had too much the start of us. He headed the boat into a 

 little cove, where he opened his heart and a bottle of St. 

 Croix, offering now to give us a pull. A long tug at the oar 

 had so whetted our appetites that we added no water to 

 our rum, and the fiery drink, with a snack of biscuit and 

 pork, set us on our thwarts for the homeward pull. 



The next morning we weighed anchor to beat up the 

 coast for Payta, to make up our crew. On this passage we 

 hugged the land at no time save at night. As best evidence 

 of the pacific character of the sea immediately under the 

 lee of the Cordilleras, we met large numbers of the singu- 

 lar craft termed balsas running with square sail before the 

 steady south-east trade -winds. They are simply rafts of 

 logs lashed together, with a raised platform for cargo, and a 

 deep lee-board to give steerage. On this primitive arrange- 

 ment the Peruvians make voyages of a thousand miles, and 

 sometimes are met far off the shore. The balsa wood is 

 perhaps the lightest, having a specific gravity about one-half 

 that of cork, and is impenetrable to water when both ends 

 are submerged. The tree attains considerable size, and it 

 is well adapted to the purposes for which it is used. 



As I regarded this provision I could but perceive an- 

 other evidence of a careful Providence for the necessities of 

 the sailor. Here we find the lightest and most impermeable 

 timber in the world, growing in the immediate vicinity of 

 the only sea on which raft navigation is fairly safe. Were 



