A TRIP TO THE LA VAU 65 



and whereas a pilot-boat is mainly wanted in rough 

 weather, and should be capable of living in any sea, 

 they have built them open, and any heavy wave breaking 

 aboard would swamp them in an instant. 



But of all wonderful productions of the human mind 

 the jigger excels; a mast is stepped alongside the 

 stern-post, with a little spritsail hoisted on it ; a sta- 

 tionary boom, or out-rigged, is fastened in the stern and 

 projects aft into the water ; in the end of this boom an 

 augur hole is bored, through which is rove the sheet to 

 the jigger, and the sail trimmed down or eased off. By 

 this ingenious arrangement all possible disadvantages are 

 combined without one conceivable advantage. How- 

 ever, not to condemn unreasonably, there are conve- 

 niences in this singular rig. The bowsprit can be taken 

 out and used to shove off from rocks or a lee shore, and 

 as these vessels are never known to go to windward, that 

 is important ; the sprit of the jigger can be used to 

 boom out the mainsail when going wing and wing ; any 

 passenger, finding a sail incommodes him, can reach up 

 and wrap it round the mast, out of his way ; and in fact, 

 if he were to pull it down and put it in his pocket, no 

 one would miss it ; and finally, a Kentuckian might find 

 the mainmast useful, with a little whittling, as a tooth- 

 pick. It is also rather perplexing that the Canadians 

 should call the foresail the grande voile, which is the 

 proper name for the mainsail, and then call the mainsail 

 the mizzin, in pronouncing which they endeavor to cheat 

 the last syllable of its vowel ; whereas, the jigger, if any, 

 is entitled to be called the mizzen. Instead of having a 

 cabin, like Christians, they have amidships, for it is a 



