So he ordered the carpenter

of the ship, who was an european slave, to

build a little state room or cabin in the middle of the long-boat, like that of an english river-barge, with a place to stand behind it, to steer and haul home the main-sheet, and room before for a hand or two to stand and work the

card, will point toward the corresponding places of the horizon; and therefore by the tendency of this instrument a ship may be directed in any proposed course, The names and order of the points, commencing at north, and proceeding round easterly are as follows:-NORTH; North by East; North-North-East; North-East by North; NorthEast; North-East by East; East-North-East; East by North; EAST; East by South; East-South-East; South-East by East; South-East; South-East by South; South-SouthEast; South by East; SOUTH; South by West; South-South-West; South-West by South; South-West; South-West by West; West-South-West; West by South; WEST; West by North; West-North-West; North-West by West; North-West; North-West by North; North-North-West; North by West; North. In practice these points are usually indicated by their respective initial letters, as for North-N. for North by East -N. b. E. &c. as expressed in the accompanying delineation of this instrument.

The watchful ruler of the helm, no more

With fixed attention eyes the adjacent shore;
But, by the oracle of truth below,

The wond'rous magnet guides the wayward prow."

FALCONER.-Shipwreck: canto ii.

MAIN-SHEET:-It is necessary to remark that the sheets or sheats, which are sometimes mistaken by english writers, more especially poets, for sails, are the ropes that are used to extend the clues, or lower corners, of the sails.

"Deep on her side the reeling vessel lies:
Brail up the mizen quick! the master cries,
Man the clue-garnets! let the main sheet fly!"

FALCONER-Shipwreck: canto ii.

In the case of vessels denominated "fore-and-aft rigged" like the one described in the text, the lack or fore corner of the mainsail is secured to the mast, the clue or after

sails. She sailed with what we call a shoulder of mutton sail, and the boom gibedt over the top of the cabin, which lay very snug and low, and had in it room for him to lie, with a slave or two, and a table to eat on, with some small lockers to put in some bottles of such liquor as he thought fit to drink, and particularly his bread, rice, and coffee.

We went frequently out with this boat a fishing, and, as I was the most dexterous to catch fish for him, he never went without me. It happened that he had appointed to go out in this boat, either for pleasure or for fish, with two or three Moors of some distinction in that place, and for whom he had provided extraordinarily, and had, therefore, sent on board the boat, over-night, a larger store of provision than ordinary, and had ordered me to get ready three fusils, with powder and shot, which were on board his ship, for that they designed some sport of fowling, as well as fishing.

I got all things ready as he directed, and waited the next morning with the boat washed clean, her ensign and pendant out, and every thing to accommodate his guests; when, by-and-by, my master came on board alone, and told me his guests bad put off going, upon some business that fell out, and ordered me, with the man and boy, as usual, to go out with the boat, and catch them some fish, for that his friends were to sup at his house; and commanded, that, as soon as I had got some fish, I should bring it home; all which I prepared to do.

This moment, my former notions of deliverance darted into my thoughts; for

corner of the same, is made fast to the end of the boom, and the sheet serves to regulate the angle at which the main-sail stands, as also to check the violent movements of the boom during any change of manœuvres. In sloop-rigged vessels the main-sheet block is double-strapped; the bights of the strap are put over the inner end of the boom and placed between two cleats thereon, right over the vessel's stern: a round seizing is then clapped on underneath; sometimes the bights of the strap are lashed together above the boom, like the blocks on ships' yards. The end of the sheet is bent to a becket in the strap of the upper sheet block, with a sheet bend reeved alternately through the upper block and the lower one, which is also double; and the end is led in upon deck: the lower block is strapped to a thimble either on an iron horse or in a ring-bolt at the sternpost.

Book:-in the sea language, a long pole wherewith they spread out the clue or foot of a sail, usually the mainsail, of sloops, cutters, and schooners, also of studdingsails; but, sometimes, a temporary booming of other sails is resorted to for making them broader, and receive more wind: but booming of a square sail is never used but in quarter winds, or before a wind. By a wind, studding-sails, and booming the sails is not expedient. Boom, also, may, in some cases, denote a pole, with a bush or basket at the top, otherwise called a beacon, placed to direct ships how to steer into a channel; Boom, likewise, is used in marine fortification, to denote a cable or cables stretched athwart the mouth of a river, or harbour, with yards, top-masts, battlings, or spars of wood, lashed to it, and girded with iron hoops rivetted together, and nailed to the spars, to prevent an enemy's entering. Such a boom (being the most famous instance on record) Mr. Chateau-Renault had, with diligence and art, prepared at Vigo, for the defence of the Plate fleet lying there in 1702; but how strong soever, it was forced by Sir Thomas Hopson. The cables of which the boom is formed, are bent to a pair of the heaviest anchors on each side of the channel. Other cables are sometimes fastened to that within the boom, and bent to anchors laid in the stream; and these cables are prepared with spars like the other; where wood is scarce, the boom is prepared with old ropes, &c, and iron l.oops; every part of it being well saturated with pitch strewed with composition, such as is used for the preservation of out-buildings. The boom is generally so contrived as to open at one end for the passage of vessels. The "shoulder-of-mutton sail," connected with this article in the text, is a sail of which the lower part resembles the ordinary boomed mainsail common to most small craft ; but it tapers to less than a quarter of the customary proportion at the head of the sail, which is " bent" to, or spread upon, a smaller boom, the particular name for which is" gaff." † G188:—or jibe, is the action of a boom swinging across a vessel by the operation of the wind blowing obliquely upon the stern, when it changes its direction from one towards the other quarter of the vessel.

now I found I was like to have a little ship at my command; and, my master being gone, I prepared to furnish myself, not for a fishing business, but for a voyage; though I knew not, neither did I so much as consider, whither I should steer; for any where, to get out of that place, was my way.

My first contrivance was, to make a pretence, to persuade this Moor to get something for our subsistence on board; for I told him we must not presume to eat of our master's bread; he said, that was true; so he brought a large basket of rusk, or biscuit of their kind, and three jars with fresh water, into the boat. I knew where my master's case of bottles stood, which it was evident by the make, were taken out of some english prize, and I conveyed them into the boat, while the Moor was on shore, as if they had been there before for our master. I conveyed also a great lump of bees'-wax into the boat, which weighed above half a hundred weight, with a parcel of twine or thread, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer, all of which were of great use to us, afterwards, especially the wax, to make candles. Another trick I tried upon him, which he innocently came into also: his name was Ismaël, with the titular addition of Mooley so I called to him; "Mooley!" said I, “our master's guns are on board the boat, can you not get a little powder and shot? it may be, we may kill some alcamis (fowls like our curlews) for ourselves, for I know he keeps the gunner's stores in the ship."-"Yes," says he, "I'll bring some;" and, accordingly, he brought a leather pouch, which held about a pound and a half of powder, or rather more, and another with shot, perhaps five or six pounds, with some bullets, and put all into the boat; at the same time, I found some powder of my master's in the great cabin, with which I filled one of the large bottles in the case; and thus furnished with every thing needful, we sailed out of the port to fish. The guard at the castle, which is at the entrance of the port, knew who we were, and took no notice of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port, before we hauled in our sail, and set us down to fish. The wind blew from N.N.E. which was contrary to my desire for, had it blown southerly, I had been sure to have made the coast of Spain, and, at last, reached to the bay of Cadiz ; but my resolutions were, blow which way it would, I would be gone from the horrid place, where I was, and leave the rest to fate.

After we had fished some time, and catched nothing, for when I had fish on my hook I would not pull them up, that he might not see them, I said to the Moor," This will not do; our master will not be thus served; we must stand farther off." He, thinking no harm, agreed; and, being at the head of the boat, set the sails; and, as I had the helm, I ran the boat near a mile farther, and then brought-to, as if I would fish. Then, giving the boy the helm, I stepped forward to where the Moor was; took him by surprise, with my arm under his waist; and tost him clear overboard into the sea. He rose inmediately, for he swam like a cork, and called to me, begged to be taken in, and told me he would go all the world over with me. He swam so strong after the boat, that he would have reached me very quickly, there being but little wind; upon which I stepped into the cabin, and fetching one of the fowling-pieces, I presented it at him, and told him, I had done him no hurt, and, if he would be quiet, I

:

CADIZ - Latitude 36° 31′ 7′′ N. Longitude 6° 17′ 15′′ W. difference of time between it and Greenwich 25 m, 9 s. Cadiz is a noted city and port, on the coast of Spain, facing the atlantic ocean, at the N. W. end of the isle of Leon; which is connected with the continent by the bridge of Suazo, over a creek of the sea, called the river Sancti-Petri, navigable only for boats or small craft; the tide runs here N. E. and S. W. and it is high water with spring-tides at past 4 o'clock. A picturesque view of this place from the south is in the abal Chronicle vol. xxiii. a chart of the harbour in vol. xxi, and a plan of the city in vol. xxii. accompanied by textual descriptions. Cadiz has proved the ultimate bulwark of the kingdom against the unprincipled invasion of it by the French under the government of Napoleon Buonaparté, in 1808, from which it was finally delivered in 1813, by the aid of England.

would do him none: " << But," said I, you swim well enough to reach the shore, the sea is calm; make the best of your way to shore, and I will do you no harm: but, if you come near the boat, I will shoot you through the head'; for I am resolved to have my liberty." So he turned himself about, and swam for the shore; and I make no doubt but he reached it with ease, for he was an excellent swinimer.

I could have been content to have taken this Moor with me rather than the boy; but there was no venturing to trust him. When he was gone, I turned to the boy, whom they called Xury, and said to him, "Xury! if you will be faithful to me I will make you a great man; but if you will not swear by Allah and Mohamed to be true to me, I must throw you into the sea_too." The voy smiled in my face, and spoke so innocently, that I could not mistrust him; and swore to be faithful.

While I was in view of the Moor who was swimming, I stood out directly to sea with the boat, rather stretching to windward, that they might think me gone towards the Strait's mouth (as indeed any one that had been in their wits must have been supposed to do); for who would have supposed we were sailing on to the southward, to the truly barbarian coast,* where whole nations of wandering Arabs or Negrost were sure to surprise and destroy us; where we could never once go on shore but we should be devoured by savage beasts, or more merciless savages of human kind.

* See note to page 15.

NEGRO-the black species of mankind, best known to us in a state of slavery; an african people forming a considerable article in the modern commerce. The direct export traffic in Afric, called the "slave trade," is now abolished by act of parliament, so far as concerns british subjects; but it is still carried on by other nations; and vast numbers of this unfortunate race are employed to cultivate our insular colonies, in bondage that has no termination but death.

The origin of negros, and the cause of that remarkable difference in complexion from the rest of mankind, has much perplexed the naturalists; nor has any thing quite satisfactory been yet offered on that head. Mr. BOYLE has observed, that the beat of the climate cannot be the true cause of the colour of negros; for, though the ardour of the sun may darken the colour of the skin, yet experience does not shew that heat is sufficient to produce a true blackness, like that of negros. In Afric itself many nations of Ethiopia are not negros, nor were there any blacks originally in the West Indies. In many parts of Asia, under the same parallel with the african regions, inhabited by blacks, the people are but tawny. He adds, that there are negros in Afric, beyond the southern tropic, and that a river sometimes parts nations, one of which is black, and the other but tawny. (BOYLE's Works, abr. vol. ii. p. 42. 44.) Dr. BARRERE alleges, that the gall of negros is black, and being mixed with their blood, is deposited between their skin and scarf skin. (Diss. on the Physical Cause of the Colour of Negros.) We have a dissertation on this head by Dr. JOHN MITCHELL, of Virginia, in the Phil, Trans. (No. 476, sect 4.) where he advances these propositions, and enters into a learned detail to support them :-1. The colour of white people proceeds from the colour which the epidermis transmits; that is, from the colour of the parts under the epidermis, rather than from any colour of its own.-2. The skins of negros are of a thicker substance, and denser texture, than those of white people, and transmit no colour through them.-3. The part of the skin which appears black in negros, is the corpus reticulare cutis, and external lamella of the epidermus; all other parts are the same colour in them with those of other people, except the fibres which pass between those two parts.-4. The colour of negros does not proceed from any black humour or fluid parts contained in their skins; there being none such in any part of their bodies, more than in white people.-5. The epidermis, especially its external lamella, is divided into two parts by its pores and scales, two hundred times less than the particles of bodies on which their colours depend. This is founded on LEUWENHOECK's observation, that a portion of the epidermis no bigger than what can be discerned by the naked eye, is divided into 125000 pores, and these pores must divide such a portion of the skin into as many particles.

Negros are brought from Guinea and other coasts of Afric, and sent into the spanish

But, as soon as it grew dusk, in the evening, I changed my course, and steered directly S. by E. bending my course a little toward the east, that I might keep in with the shore; and, having a fair fresh gale of wind, and a smooth quiet sea, I made such sail, that I believe by the next day, in the afternoon, when I made the land, I could not be less than 150 miles south of Salee, quite beyond the Emperor of Maroco's dominions, or perhaps of any other sovereign thereabout; for we saw no people.

Yet such was the fright I had taken at the Moors, and the dreadful apprehensions I had of falling into their hands, that I would not stop, or go on shore, or come to an anchor, the wind continuing fair, till I had sailed in that manner five days; and then the wind shifting to the southward, I concluded, also, that, if any of our vessels were in chase of me, they also would now give over: so I ventured to make to the coast, and came to an anchor in the mouth of a little river; I knew not what or where, neither what latitude, what country, what nation, or what river. I neither saw, or desired to see, any people; the principal thing I wanted was fresh water. We came into this creek in the evening, resolving to swim on shore as soon as it was quite dark, and discover the country; but, as soon as it was quite dark, we heard such dreadful noises of the barking,

and portuguese colonies in America, to cultivate sugar, tobacco, indigo, &c. and into Peru, Mexico, and Brazil, to dig in the mines. This commerce, which is scarcely defensible on the principles, either of morality or humanity, is now carried on by those nations. See a subsequent note in this work, explanatory of the word Assiento, (page 39).

There are various ways of procuring these Negros; some, to avoid famine, sell them selves, their wives, and children, to their princes, or great men, who have wherewithal to subsist them. Others are made prisoners in war; and great numbers are kidnapped in excursions made for that very purpose, by the petty chieftains, upon one another's territories; in which it is usual to sweep away all, old and young, male and female; the Negros, also, make a frequent practice of surprising one another, while the european vessles are at anchor on their coasts; of dragging those they have caught thither, and selling them. This is called in the commercial jargon of the coast panear. In fact, it is no extraordinary thing to see the son sell, after this manner, his father or mother, and the parents their own children, for a bar of iron, or a few bottles of spirituous liquor. As soon as the ship has its complement, it immediately makes off; the poor wretches, while yet in sight of their country, falling into such deep grief and despair, that a great part of them languish, fall into sickness, and die, during the passage: while others of them despatch themselves. It has been calculated, that not less than one hundred thousand slaves have, for many years, been exported by the Europeans from the coast of Afric. Although the perversity of too many of our countrymen, shewn in the breach or evasion of the Abolition Act, does not admit of this nefarious trade being said to be totally suppressed among us; yet, being now classed among felonies on the statute book, it can only be carried on by stealth, to a very limited extent compared with former times; and under a liability to heavy pains and penalties. Negro-land is thus described in a curious book entituled "Africa," compiled by JOHN OGILBY, master of H. M's revels m Ireland (Loudon, 1670);- This countrey spreading from the north to the south, that is, from the desart of Lybia to the banks of the river Niger, is, at this day, with a general name called Negro-land, or the countrey of the blacks or Negros; which Marmot placeth in Nether Ethiopia, without adding, that the Arabians call it Beled-elAbid and Beled-Geneva, and Neuha. All the inhabitants of this province were called by the ancients, as PLINY, and the geographer PrOLOMEY, ethiopian Nigrites, or, according to the orthography of DIONYSIUS, in his book of the situation of the earth, Negretes, as some have called them in Greek, Melanes; which, according to STEPHANUS de urbibus, as the former name, signifieth blacks; perhaps derived from the colour of the inhabitants, or nature of the soil, or because of the desarts, which spread from the mountain Atlas to the river Niger, or else because Niger casts up blackishi sediment, some rocks appearing in the middle of the stream as if burnt; the most will have it, that the people have gotten their name from the river Niger, which moisteneth their countrey. In this countrey are placed also ProtoMEY's ethiopian Aganginers, the Africans or Gamfasantins, Perosers, Matirers, Ptocmfaners, Nubians, Atlanticans, Garamantins, and other antient people besides." &c.