80 
YOYAGE ACROSS THE NORTH SEAS, 
day ; as well as strings of Guillemots (Uria iroile) and Razor-bills ( Alcatorda). 
We encountered these birds in every part of the sea in tolerable plenty. In the 
afternoon a Prussian vessel was descried, with her fore-topsail backed, lying to 
for the purpose of fishing—a thing which foreign merchantmen frequently do, and 
which the English look upon with contempt. It reminded us, however, that we 
had hooks aboard, and though the ship was going a-head at the rate of two and a 
half knots, we renewed our attempts, in fifty fathoms of water, on a stiff mud 
bottom, to inveigle the Cod, with the same luck. 
In the morning the wind blew a small gale, such as sailors designate “ fair 
weather flop,” and we cracked along at the rate of nine knots, laying our course 
about two points free ; we ran eighty miles. The wind dropped at evening, and 
the sea went down in the night. During the breeze the ship was under double- 
reefed topsails; and, being comparatively light, lay over from the wind more than 
is usual. I was highly amused at witnessing the straits to which a Pig we had 
on board was reduced by this circumstance: the animal, a great favourite with 
the sailors, was allowed the liberty of free exercise on the deck. The spray, 
which continually fell in showers around, compelled him to take shelter to wind¬ 
ward, under the bulwark; but it required the utmost exertion on his part to 
maintain his post. At every unusual lurch he found himself settling to leeward, 
and his sinews and muscles were incessantly on the strain; in a sitting position, 
with his fore quarters constantly on the alert, he looked an absurd object of 
Swinish despondency; and the prolonged impatient whine, mixed with low 
grantings that broke from his chest, told his distress to those around; but his 
appeal appeared to soften no heart. On several occasions the sea fairly unshipped 
him, and he slipped slowly to leeward, in the most ridiculous posture, till the 
woodwork brought him up. After a few unsuccessful efforts, he desperately 
scrambled back to his old berth; when he had afforded considerable mirth in this 
way, the seamen compassionated his condition, and confined him in the long boat. 
This Pig was a mischievous rogue; and before the voyage was concluded, the 
men, in self defence, were obliged to imprison him in toto. He delighted to get 
behind a person, unobserved, and gnaw his trowsers. On one occasion he utterly 
dissected the short tog of a tar who had “turned in” and left it on the windlass. 
The large arm of the sea called the Skager Rack was now before us; and 
vessels of all kinds were seen in abundance, going up and down. From its 
proximity to Norway, the Razor-bills and Guillemots became more plentiful, and 
frequently floated, in lines composed of seven and eight individuals, close past us, 
though seldom within gunshot. They swim remarkably fast, and keep time 
with a ship at the top of her speed. The order they maintain, the buoyancy with 
which they! float, and the striking contrast of the black and white which compose 
their plumage, on all occasions make them objects of interest. The mate of the 
