a "round turn" over the lift, and stuck fast. Jim was in an
awkward position. He could not immediately disengage his queue,
and he could not willingly or conveniently leave it aloft. All
hands but himself were promptly on deck, and ready to sway up the
yard. The mate shouted to him in the full strength of his lungs
to "Bear a hand and lay in off the yard," and unjustly berated
him as a "lubber," while the poor fellow was tugging away, and
working with might and main, to disengage his tail from the lift,
in which he at length succeeded, but not without the aid of his
jackknife.

I was greatly troubled during this passage by the impure
character of the water. I had been taught to place a high value
on water as a beverage; but when we had been three weeks at sea,
and had entered the warm latitudes, on knocking a bung from one
of the water casks on the quarter-deck, there issued an odor of
"an ancient and fish-like" nature, which gave offence to my
olfactories. On tasting the water, I found to my disgust that it
was impregnated with a flavor of a like character, and after it
was swallowed this flavor would cling to the palate with
provoking tenacity for several minutes. The sailors smacked
their lips over it once or twice, and pronounced it "from fair to
middling." When boiled, and drank under the name of tea or
coffee, it might have deserved that character; but when taken
directly from the cask, and quaffed in hot weather, as a pleasant
and refreshing beverage it was a signal failure.

To the inmates of the cabin, myself excepted, the peculiar flavor
of the water served as an excuse, if any were required, for
drawing liberally on the brandy kegs and liquor cases. A little