old friend Sam, having received a commission from the President of the
United States, to visit the coast of Nova Scotia, and report to him
fully on the state of the fisheries, their extent and value, the
manner in which they were prosecuted, and the best mode of obtaining a
participation in them, he proceeded on his cruise in a trading vessel,
called the "Black Hawk," whereof Timothy Cutler was master, and Mr
Eldad Nickerson the pilot. The two preceding volumes contained his
adventures at sea, and in the harbours of the province, to the
westward of Halifax. The present work is devoted to his remarks on
"nature and human nature."

While amusing himself fishing within three miles of the coast, off La
Haive, in contravention of the treaty, he narrowly escaped capture by
the British cruiser "Spitfire," commanded by Captain Stoker. By a
skilful manoeuvre, he decoyed the man-of-war, in the eagerness of the
chase, on to a sand-bar, when he dexterously slipt through a narrow
passage between two islands, and keeping one of them in a line between
the "Black Hawk" and her pursuer, so as to be out of the reach of her
guns, he steered for the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, and was soon
out of sight of the islands behind which his enemy lay embedded in the
sand; from this point the narrative is resumed in Mr Slick's own
words.1


1 His remarks on the fisheries I have wholly omitted, for they have
now lost their interest. His observations on "nature and human nature"
are alone retained, as they may be said to have a universal
application.--ED.