Soon afterwards I went on board the Arrow, which was a fine large
ship, and set sail for the islands of the Pacific Ocean.



CHAPTER II.



The departure - The sea - My companions - Some account of the
wonderful sights we saw on the great deep - A dreadful storm and a
frightful wreck.


IT was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread her
canvass to the breeze, and sailed for the regions of the south.
Oh, how my heart bounded with delight as I listened to the merry
chorus of the sailors, while they hauled at the ropes and got in
the anchor! The captain shouted - the men ran to obey - the noble
ship bent over to the breeze, and the shore gradually faded from my
view, while I stood looking on with a kind of feeling that the
whole was a delightful dream.

The first thing that struck me as being different from anything I
had yet seen during my short career on the sea, was the hoisting of
the anchor on deck, and lashing it firmly down with ropes, as if we
had now bid adieu to the land for ever, and would require its
services no more.

"There, lass," cried a broad-shouldered jack-tar, giving the fluke