It is a wicked mockery to lock men up, and
then taunt them with want of enterprise, and tell them they are idle."
"Look at that vessel again, Sir," said Eldad; "she don't make much
headway, does she?"
"Well, I took the glass again and examined her minutely, and I never
was so stumpt in my life.
"Pilot," said I, "is that the same vessel?"
"The identical," said he.
"I vow to man," sais I, "as I am a livin' sinner, that is neither a
ship, nor a brigantine, nor a hermaphrodite, but a topsail schooner,
that's a fact. What in natur' is the meanin' of all this? Perhaps the
captain knows," so I called him again.
"Cutler, that vessel is transmografied again," sais I; "look at her."
"Pooh," said he, "that's not the same vessel at all. The two first we
saw are behind that island. That one is nothing but a coaster. You
can't take me in, Slick. You are always full of your fun, and taking a
rise out of some one or another, and I shall be glad when we land, you
will then have some one else to practise on."
In a short time the schooner vanished, and its place was supplied by a
remarkable white cliff, which from the extraordinary optical delusion
it occasions gives its name to the noble port which is now called Ship
Harbour. I have since mentioned this subject to a number of mariners,
and have never yet heard of a person who was not deceived in a similar
manner.
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