Now, it was plainly a labor of love for Captain Sleet to describe,
as he does, all the little detailed conveniences of his crow's-nest;
but though he so enlarges upon many of these, and though
he treats us to a very scientific account of his experiments
in this crow's-nest, with a small compass he kept there
for the purpose of counteracting the errors resulting from
what is called the "local attraction" of all binnacle magnets;
an error ascribable to the horizontal vicinity of the iron in
the ship's planks, and in the Glacier's case, perhaps, to there
having been so many broken-down blacksmiths among her crew;
I say, that though the Captain is very discreet and
scientific here, yet, for all his learned "binnacle deviations,"
"azimuth compass observations," and "approximate errors,"
he knows very well, Captain Sleet, that he was not so much
immersed in those profound magnetic meditations, as to fail being
attracted occasionally towards that well replenished little
case-bottle, so nicely tucked in on one side of his crow's nest,
within easy reach of his hand. Though, upon the whole, I greatly
admire and even love the brave, the honest, and learned Captain;
yet I take it very ill of him that he should so utterly ignore
that case-bottle, seeing what a faithful friend and comforter
it must have been, while with mittened fingers and hooded head
he was studying the mathematics aloft there in that bird's nest
within three or four perches of the pole.
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