202 GUN, EOD, AND SADDLE. 



topgallant yards, placing the ship under reefed top- 

 sails, but had as further precautions the lead hove 

 every half-hour. Although a long way off the coast, 

 the singing chant of the leadsman had in the earlier 

 watches proclaimed six fathoms, six and a half: shoal 

 water, all will say, for the center of a vast sea; but 

 for days between the Straits of Sunda and the mouth 

 of the Canton River you may sail without wetting 

 the knots that mark ten fathoms. 



It may be necessary to explain, for the benefit of 

 the uninitiated, that the deep-sea lead is a bar of 

 that metal about two feet long gradually tapering 

 from the base (which is about four or five inches in 

 diameter) to the top, where the line is made fast. 

 In the base is a deep indentation, containing about 

 half a pound of lard, which coming in contact with 

 the bottom, informs the navigator (by the particles 

 that adhere) of what formation the surface of mother 

 earth is composed. The line which is attached is of 

 various lengths (a hundred fathoms, I think, was on 

 this occasion), carefully coiled in a tub, so that noth- 

 ing can prevent it being freely paid out. 



Well, the lead was hove, and rapidly the line ran 

 out ; five, six, seven fathoms were passed, still no 

 stop, on, on, till double that number, yet no indi- 



