meter; its average temperature during the four seasons, cannot therefore be at present given.

The winter is generally very stormy with heavy rain in the months of November and December, the south-east wind then prevails. We have some frost and snow about the low land in the beginning of January, which is seldom of long duration, and never interrupts our agricultural operations.

Early in February vegetation begins to advance, and about the commencement of March every thing assumes the beautiful hue of spring. April and May bring in alternate warm showers of rain and sunshine, and the heat becomes extremely oppressive in the months of June and July. In August and the beginning of September vegetation dries up from the drought of summer, and is then easily ignited, which is generally done by the natives when passing along the coast in their canoes. The weather being then very foggy, still, and close, the atmosphere becomes so much darkened by the fog and smoke combined, that the sun occasionally appears to us of a deep red colour even at noonday. In the month of October the rainy season sets in, the soil being then moist and the weather not very cold, the grass grows vigorously. The pasturage for the cattle is then better than during the two preceding months.

The fur bearing animals generally hunted on the island are beaver, both black and grizzly, racoon, minks, land otter, &c., and the sea otter is hunted about Nitinat and Scotts Islands. The elk and deer are said to be abundant in the interior of the island. The fish generally taken by the natives in the vicinity are as follows, viz. halibut, flounders, skate, rock cod, sardine, salmon, trout, and several varieties of the herring species.

From the month of September to the month of April following, is a very favourable time to obtain supplies of vegetables at this place and Nisqually.

A ship of war of 500 men could always depend upon receiving supplies of flour, beef, and pork at this place and Nisqually; and during the time specified in the preceding remark upon receiving supplies of potatoes and other vegetables.

A VOICE FROM THE DEEP.-On the Present State of the Merchant Service.-By Aliquis.

(Concluded from page 242.)

The greatest evil of the whole, however, has yet to be treated of, viz. the discipline, or rather, the want of discipline in merchant ships; and this is a part of my subject which I enter upon with "fear and trembling," not knowing the effect which my laying bare the "nakedness of the land, "may have upon those who I would wish to improve in their conduct by some new act, and which this very laying bare is in

tended by some future means to obtain. I must run the risk, however, of a temporary loss, for the chance, at least, of a permanent gain; and trust that this questionable period of our existence will be of so short a duration, that but little harm may accrue.

Discipline then, or that which is so necessary to the good regulation and governing of bodies of men, is now, I may say without fear of contradiction, almost defunct in the merchant service; and the difficulties and vexations caused to masters and mates by which, are such as continually to harrass their very existence! Indeed, no shore-going person can form any idea of the misery entailed upon all holding responsible situations on board a ship, from the want of this most essential requisite! It has been said by some wise man (I forget who) that " a ship is too confined a space for the corking up of human malignity." Of the truth of which no one who has ever been a few weeks at sea can for one moment doubt; yet, in this small space, are the bad passions of men in the present times allowed almost their full swing, without any fear of punishment, or what may properly be termed such, so long as the lives of individuals are not actually endangered thereby. Anything short of this, according to the Merchant Seamen's Act, is not punishable even with restraint, so far as I can understand it; and every sailor being well acquainted with the same. Insolence, disobedience of orders, laziness, refusing to work, and disturbances of all kinds are every day occurrences on board of merchant ships, but more particularly in those which carry few officers and petty-officers; as to correct at all now, has become a matter of might entirely, the law (if there is any thing worthy of the name) being altogether in favour of the sailor. That such a state of things should continue I am sure no member of the legislature can possibly desire, and it can only be from the want of a sufficient knowledge of facts concerning this matter, or a proper representation of the case, that an act for the governing of sailors on board of merchant ships, has not been long ago passed, instead of the present one, for the purpose of coercing masters! But let us examine into it.

When a sailor signs the articles, he agrees to go a certain voyage, or to serve for so many years in a certain ship for a specified sum of money as wages per month; and to obey all lawful orders of the master or mates by night or by day, on board and in boats, and so forth. The whole affair appearing very serious on paper, but without any penalty whatever being attached for the non-fulfilment of the said contract, The law is supposed to be sufficient for such things on the arrival at some port; but the ship has to get to this port, and supposing the men to refuse to do their work at sea, a very common case with many, I ask how is she to be got there? There is no law at present, on board of a ship at least which can force men to do their work; but quite the reverse. The present Seamen's Act allows any man to refuse to do his duty so long as he likes to forfeit six days pay for every twenty-four hours of refusal! and suppose that a man has no pay due, which in going to America or the Cape he would not have probably till after arrival, having received so

much in advance, where is the punishment? even allowing that it is a punishment, which it is not. Such is this Seamen's Act, the “blessing and boon to the sailor never to be forgotten," according to the worthy gentleman who sells this same trash in his red book at the Customhouse. A boon it may be to the sailor if he is a lazy skulking blackguard, of which this very act has made a great deal too many; but it is anything but what it should be, and totally subversive of all discipline.

That a British senate should have tied up the hands of all masters of ships, and let loose those of their ships' companies so effectually, is truly astonishing; and shews that it must have a much worse opinion of the former, and a much better one of the latter, than is consistent with human nature, or the good regulation and safety of those on board of merchant ships. No doubt Parliament acted to the best of its judgment; but as the act has only created the greatest insubordination and consequent danger to the lives and property of all concerned in merchant ships, which can be proved by thousands of voices, it is now necessary that it should be expunged from the statute book for ever, and something substituted which may not only coerce the master if such is required, but coerce also the sailor while under command:-this would be but fair play if nothing else. All masters are answerable for their conduct to the laws of their country on arrival at a British port, and could not go wrong, even were they willing, for any great length of time; but the ship must be navigated to that port, and the master certainly ought to have the magisterial power of enforcing obedience to his orders in some way or other, without the fear of fine and imprisonment. At present he is constantly obliged both to risk this and to suffer it, for the sake of saving his ship from danger, damage, or wreck; and that ships are frequently brought into these perils by the insubordination of a band of lawless ruffians, calling themselves sailors, may be seen almost weekly in the newspapers of the day.

Hundreds of cases occur however, which never reach the papers. I shall mention that of the Sir Edward Parry on her voyage to America, about a year ago; having lost all three topmasts in a heavy gale of wind. Twelve men out of eighteen refused to clear the wreck under pretence of being sick: the masts lay kicking about alongside for three days during the continuance of the gale; and it was three weeks before other topmasts could be got up,—the ship drifting about almost at the mercy of the winds all that time, lost a great deal of ground, and greatly increased her expenses. Most people would say, could these men be British sailors? I answer they were; and when put in gaol by the master, with the permission of the Consul at the port of Baltimore, they were in a few days taken out by writ of Habeas Corpus, and brought the master and consul into court for false imprisonment, which plea was gained, and the men set at liberty; the judge at the same time informing the Consul that he had no power to imprison sailors in the United States, that there was no clause in the Treaty on the subject, and that American gaols were not built for English sailors.

Thus ended that case, which, no doubt has been represented to the proper authorities in England long ago. But, had it been a British port the result would have been the same, and the only punishment that of forfeiture of wages, which had been spent in advance before leaving England! Some magistrates indeed, have moral courage enough to punish such rascals as they deserve, well knowing the weakness and folly of the act, and running the risk of actions themselves: these men, however, are but rare. Nevertheless, I have heard more than one express themselves strongly to the above effect; although the act may not altogether oblige a magistrate on shore to follow it, as it does a master of a ship at sea. But of this I am not so sure as I am of the disturbances it so constantly creates on board of ships. The master and mates of the Anna Robertson, on her voyage out to China last year, had for nearly two months to keep watch, and even sleep with loaded pistols upon them night and day. The people would do nothing but what they chose, and were in a complete state of mutiny for all that time.

A master is almost afraid to take a lady passenger into his ship now, from a fear of her being disgusted with the conduct and language of the people on board, without his having the power to check it. Indeed, nothing can be worse than the conduct of sailors in most merchant ships, and as such cannot at all times be borne by their superiors-club law, for want of another is made use of; fighting, abuse, &c. of course follow, and the duty is carried on in a bullying boisterous style of discomfort, which to passengers is both very disagreeable and alarming. This is more particularly the case in vessels with few mates as I have before stated; those which carry a tolerable staff risk every thing, and put offenders in irons, on bread and water, vi et armis. These punishments, however, often turn out a losing concern to the master; but, what is he to do? Can he allow the ship to be taken out of his hands? If not, why is there not some law to support him, instead of that only to crush him, and risk the lives of everybody on board.

Mercy to the sailor cannot certainly be objected to. But, to give ignorant men every thing in their own hands is, to say the least of it, very dangerous, and anything but judicious, and most injurious to the shipping interest.

It is contrary to the Divine will that men should not be under control; and every one knows that we are far more comfortable when kept in a wholesome state of discipline than without it! For this reason, therefore, if for no other, let there be an act for governing sailors on shipboard. Let it in as brief a space as possible, declare what punishment the master of a ship can inflict-for disobedience, insolence, breaking of the peace, refusing duty, theft, and blasphemy especially. The very fact being known that such power is in his hands will, in most cases, do away with the necessity for the real infliction of the punishment.

As to the nature of these punishments, it is not for me to speak, but it must appear quite evident, from what I have written, that something very different is required from the one single punishment for all misNO. 6.-VOL. XVIII.

2 R

deeds of the present act. This will easily be decided on, after evidence shall have been taken by a Committee of Inquiry, which I hope may 'ere long be ordered to sit on the matter. To effect this, however, or to effect anything, I must request the particular attention of my brother chips to the whole of the above: they alone are the parties to move! shipowners can insure; but shipmasters cannot insure either their lives or their comfort. Some of the former, however, aye! many perhaps, may see it their interest also to be up and doing, and may lend their powerful aid towards bettering the condition of their fellow-men; and in doing which they will assuredly better their own. Men of common sense must perceive at a glance that even were all granted that I have asked with regard to shipbuilding, stores, men, &c. the additional expense would soon be squared by all things finding their proper level, as a natural and inevitable consequence, and the benefit would be a public one as regards safety of life and property, without affecting the pecuniary affairs of the shipping interest! This has been my particular aim in writing the above, and as most shipowners are men of sound common sense, and many of them who would shrink from the very idea of some of the deeds at which I have hinted, I trust that they at least will view the matter in this light and act together with their captains (I dare not say masters here,) in making a vigorous attempt to obtain the specified most necessary changes.

I would willingly take some notice of the Register Tickets, which occupy so large a space in the Seamen's Act; but I find I have already been drawn in to rather too lengthy a dissertation, and shall merely remark, in passing, that the universal opinion is, they have completely failed in their object of checking desertion; and only give a great deal of useless bother and trouble to both master and man.

Should we ever be fortunate enough to obtain a Committee of Inquiry, I trust these tickets will be particularly examined into, as also their concomitant-desertion; which is still carried on to a most vexatious extent wherever a shilling more wages is to be got.

I will conclude for the present, Mr. Editor, but you may hear again on these subjects from

ALIQUIS.

MR. RAPER'S SYSTEM OF SYMBOLS.

THE importance of abbreviations and symbols in saving time in writing is so generally felt that most persons, whose pursuits require them to write much, habitually employ certain signs, intelligible to themselves, to save the tedious repetition of the same letters and syllables.

Suitable and expressive symbols are, however, not merely a convenience to the writer, but afford, in general, the advantages of distinctness, explicitness, and economy of time to the reader, together with another of still greater