Chap. XII. THE " PUFFERS." 293 
I looked round the cabin-table at those who had pre- 
ceded me on board, and at once answered, " I see you 
" have had the grumbler.s and puffers on board : listen 
** to but little of what you hear from the people who 
" are in the habit of rushing on board fresh emigrant 
" ships ; come on shore, and judge a good deal for 
" yourself until you have secured an impartial infor- 
" mant." 
The puffers are, perhaps, the most mischievous of 
these two classes, who both seem to delight in per- 
plexing and tormenting the new-comers almost before 
the anchor of the ship is down. They are people 
who seek to give themselves an air of consequence by 
dwelling on the length of time that they have been 
in the colony, on the important station which they 
individually hold among its founders, on their perfect 
and exclusive knowledge of the capabilities of the 
country and the politics of the place, and on the 
advantages to be derived from making their acquaint- 
ance, and thus gaining a share of their notability and 
experience. I remember once hearing one take extra- 
ordinary credit to himself, before a knot of gaping and 
bewildered passengers under the break of the poop, 
because " the ship was at that precise moment," as he 
declared, " passing over the identical spot where his 
" schooner, which he had ordered, and he had built, 
" and he had manned, and he intended to send round 
" to his whaling-station for his oil and his bone, and 
" which was the fastest schooner on the coast, had 
" turned over and sunk some months before !" They 
generally support their vulgar rhodomontade by the 
most exaggerated accounts of people and things ; and, 
of course, the man from England thinks that a person 
who knows such wonderful facts must be better in- 
formed than the newspaper, or the people who write 
