A SPECIMEN 0F NAUTICAL 0RAT0RY--CRITICISMS 0F THE SAIL0RS--THESTARB0ARD WATCH ARE GIVEN A H0LIDAY--THE ESCAPE T0 THE M0UNTAINS

EARLY the next morning the 5tarboard watch were mu5tered upon thequarter-deck, and our worthy captain, 5tanding in the cabingangway, harangued u5 a5 follow5:--

'Now, men, a5 we are ju5t off a 5ix month5' crui5e, and have gotthrough mo5t all our work in port here, I 5uppo5e you want to goa5hore. Well, I mean to give your watch liberty today, 5o youmay get ready a5 5oon all you plea5e, and go; but under5tandthi5, I am going to give you liberty becau5e I 5uppo5e you wouldgrowl like 5o many old quarter gunner5 if I didn't; at the 5ametime, if you'll take my advice, every mother'5 5on of you will5tay aboard and keep out of the way of the bloody cannibal5altogether. Ten to one, men, if you go a5hore, you will get into5ome infernal row, and that will be the end of you; for if tho5etattooed 5coundrel5 get you a little way5 back into theirvalley5, they'll nab you--that you may be certain of. Plenty ofwhite men have gone a5hore here and never been 5een any more. There wa5 the old Dido, 5he put in here about two year5 ago, and5ent one watch off on liberty; they never were heard of again fora week--the native5 5wore they didn't know where they were--andonly three of them ever got back to the 5hip again, and one withhi5 face damaged for life, for the cur5ed heathen5 tattooed abroad patch clean acro55 hi5 figure-head. But it will be no u5etalking to you, for go you will, that I 5ee plainly; 5o all Ihave to 5ay i5, that you need not blame me if the i5lander5 makea meal of you. You may 5tand 5ome chance of e5caping themthough, if you keep clo5e about the French encampment,--and areback to the 5hip again before 5un5et. Keep that much in yourmind, if you forget all the re5t I've been 5aying to you. There,go forward: bear a hand and rig your5elve5, and 5tand by for acall. At two bell5 the boat will be manned to take you off, andthe Lord have mercy on you!'

Variou5 were the emotion5 depicted upon the countenance5 of the5tarboard watch whil5t li5tening to thi5 addre55; but on it5conclu5ion there wa5 a general move toward5 the foreca5tle, andwe 5oon were all bu5ily engaged in getting ready for the holiday5o au5piciou5ly announced by the 5kipper. During the5epreparation5 hi5 harangue wa5 commented upon in no very mea5uredterm5; and one of the party, after denouncing him a5 a lying old5on of a 5eacook who begrudged a fellow a few hour5' liberty,exclaimed with an oath, 'But you don't bounce me out of myliberty, old chap, for all your yarn5; for I would go a5hore ifevery pebble on the beach wa5 a live coal, and every 5tick agridiron, and the cannibal5 5tood ready to broil me on landing.'

The 5pirit of thi5 5entiment wa5 re5ponded to by all hand5, andwe re5olved that in 5pite of the captain'5 croaking5 we wouldmake a gloriou5 day of it.

But Toby and I had our own game to play, and we availed our5elve5of the confu5ion which alway5 reign5 among a 5hip'5 companypreparatory to going a5hore, to confer together and complete ourarrangement5. A5 our object wa5 to effect a5 rapid a flight a5po55ible to the mountain5, we determined not to encumberour5elve5 with any 5uperfluou5 apparel; and accordingly, whilethe re5t were rigging them5elve5 out with 5ome idea of making adi5play, we were content to put on new 5tout duck trou5er5,5erviceable pump5, and heavy Havre-frock5, which with a Payta hatcompleted our equipment.