S WHALING AND FISHING. 



\ oice, in order to be heard. It seemed more like 

 u little spot of land set adrift upon the sea, than 

 like a veritable fastness, impregnable to the as 

 saults of old Ocean. It is an isolated spot, ana 

 UJG good people who make it their home have, to 

 all intents and purposes, dissolved all connection 

 with the rest of mankind. I should think it a 

 glorious place from which to meditate upon the 

 vanity of those pursuits in which men in the groat 

 world engage with the greatest avidity. How 

 unimportant must appear to these dwellers in the 

 wilderness of waters, those daily strifes and toils 

 which engross the lives of so many in civilized 

 lands, and which we are used to look upon as so 

 all important. How like a fancy sketch, or per- 

 haps, more like a communication from another 

 planet, must seem to them the accounts in the 

 chance papers they receive, of those wars, revolu 

 tions, and ambitious struggles, which set that 

 distant world agog, and furnish food for excited 

 thought to millions of men for years of time. How 

 like a dream, or romantic fiction, must appear 

 cotemporary history, to a child born and raised 

 in this out-of-the-way spot. 



The night on which we left Tristan was dark 

 and storm-portending. As the wind was fair, how- 

 ever, we ran along under whole top-sails, keeping 

 a bright look-out ahead. During my trick at the 

 helm, from twelve to two in the middle watch, the 

 startling cry of " hard up ! " from the mate and 

 the man on 1 ook-out, brought half the watch below 



