porter's jaUKNAL. 



riarj degree, not the least symptom yet appearing on board. 

 The crew, notwithstanding their constant labour, fatigue? 

 and privations, have enjoyed most extraordinary spirits. 

 They continued their usual diversions duriiig the gales ; 

 laboured with cheerfulness when labour was requisite ; not 

 a murmur or complaint was heard ; but all seemed deter- 

 mined to share with their officers every fatigue, and to ex- 

 ert themselves to the utmost to conquer every difficulty. 

 To be sure we had not been long in those seas ; but since 

 we had left America, they have been deprived of almost 

 every comfort of life ; and so great was their desire now 

 for fresh provisions that a rat was esteemed a dainty, and 

 pet monkeys were sacrificed to appease their longings. 

 Our provisions and water still continued good ; the bread, 

 to be sure, had been attacked by worms and weevils, but 

 they had only in a slight degree altered its qualitiee ; our 

 peas and beans, however, had not escaped so well ; for, as 

 in this cold climate the allowance of water enabled us to 

 spare enough to permit the boiling and use of them, I di- 

 rected them to be served ; but on opening the barrels that 

 contained them, we found only a mass of chaff and worms. 

 The rats, also, had found the way into our bread-rooms, 

 and had occasioned a great consumption of that precious 

 article. As to our water, none could be sweeter or purer ; 

 it had not undergone the slightest change. And the only 

 fact I think it necessary to state in support of this assertion 

 is, that a live mullet, nearly three quarters of an inch in 

 length, was this day pumped from a cask filled with the 

 water in the river Delaware : had this water undergone 

 any corruption, the fish could not certainly have existed in 

 it. This little fish I have put in a bottle of its native Waa- 

 ler, with a view of preserving it alive. From its size, I 

 should suppose it to have been produced from the spawn 

 while in the cask. The water taken in at St. Catharines, 

 was found to be equally good ; and my own experience 

 now enables me to assure all navigators, that the only pre- 

 caution necessary to have good water at sea is, to provide 

 casks made of well seasoned staves, have them cleansed, 

 and filled with pure water. Should it be necessary at any 

 time (for the trim or safety of the ship, which is sometimes 

 the case) to fill them with salt water, particular care must 

 be taken that they be filled and well soaked, and cleansed 



