Voyages of the Waggon. 117 
distant voyages to unknown shores, she takes a super- 
cargo—the farmer’s son—to check the bills of lading ; 
for on those strange coasts who knows what treachery 
there may be brewing? There are arms aboard, in 
the form of forks or prongs; and commonly one or 
more passengers go out in her—women with vast 
bundles and children—not to mention the mer- 
chandise of sugars and of teas from Cathay, which are 
shipped for delivery at half the cottages and farm- 
steads ex route. homewards. Wherefore, you see, the 
captain had needs be a sober and godly man, having 
all these and manifold other responsibilities upon his 
mind. 
Besides which he has to make a report upon the 
state of the crops on every farm he passes, and what 
everybody is doing, and if they have begun reaping ; 
also to hail every vessel he passes outward or home- 
ward bound, and enter her answers in his log, and to 
keep his weather-eye open and a sharp watch to 
windward, lest storms should arise and awake the 
deep, and if the gale increases to batten down his 
hatches and make all snug with the tarpaulin. He 
must bear in mind the longitude of those ports where 
there are docks, lest his team should cast a shoe or 
any of the running rigging want splicing, or the hull 
spring a leak—for the blacksmith’s forges are often 
leagues apart, and he may lose his certificate if he 
strands his ship or founders on the open ocean of the 
downs. Sometimes, if the currents run unexpectedly. 
