136 



COLOMBIA. 



and to avoid the angles of the sand-banks; for, 

 by turning the ship''s head one way or the other, 

 the tide was made to act obUquely on the oppo^ 

 site bow, and thus she was easily made to cross 

 over from bank to bank, in a zig-zag direction. 

 It will sometimes happen that with every care the 

 pilot finds himself caught by some eddy of the 

 tide, which threatens to carry him on a shoal : 

 when this takes place, a few fathoms of the cable 

 are permitted to run out, which in an instant al- 

 lows the anchor to fix itself in the ground, and 

 consequently the ship becomes motionless. By 

 now placing the rudder in the proper position, the 

 tide is soon made to act on one bow ; the ship 

 is sheered over, as it is called, clear of the dan- 

 ger ; and the cable being again drawn in, the an- 

 chor drags as before. The operation of kedging, 

 as may be conceived, requires the most constant 

 vigilance, and is full of interest : though rather a 

 slow mode of proceeding ; for it cost us all that 

 night, and the whole of the next day and night, to 

 retrace the ground which we formerly had gone 

 over in ten hours. 



We had by means of this delay an opportuni- 



