Part 15 (1/2)

Nowhere on the face of the earth are there such trees as these. Some of them stand over four hundred feet high, and are thirty feet in diameter!

Their age is believed to be about eighteen hundred years. Think of it!

They have been growing there during the whole of the Christian era!

One of them, the very largest of all, has been lying on the ground for about one hundred and fifty years. When it was standing its diameter was about forty feet.

Another trunk, which is lying on the ground, has been hollowed out by fire, and through this great bore or tube a whole company of hors.e.m.e.n has ridden.

One of these trees was cut down some years ago by a party of men, who, I think, should have been sent to prison for the deed. It took five men twenty-five days to cut it through with augers and saws, and then they were obliged to use a great wedge and a battering-ram to make it fall.

These are the kings of all trees. After such a grand sight, we will not want to see any more trees to-day, and we will leave the forests of Far-away and sit and think of them under our humble grape-vines and honeysuckles.

BUILDING s.h.i.+PS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOAT BUILDING.]

It is a grand thing to own great s.h.i.+ps, and to send them over the ocean to distant countries; but I will venture to say that few men have derived so much pleasure from their fine vessels, laden with all kinds of valuable freight, as many a boy has had in the possession of a little schooner, which would be overloaded with a quart of chestnuts. And it is not only in the owners.h.i.+p of these little crafts that boys delight; they enjoy the building of them quite as much.

And a boy who can build a good s.h.i.+p is not to be laughed at by any mechanic or architect, no matter how tall or how old he may be.

The young s.h.i.+p-builder who understands his trade, when he is about to put a vessel on the stocks--to speak technically--first makes up his mind whether it is to be a s.h.i.+p, a schooner, a sloop, or merely a sail-boat, and determines its size. Then he selects a good piece of solid, but light wood, which will be large enough for the hull. Pine is generally used; but if he can get a piece of well-seasoned white willow, he will find it to work very easily. Then he shapes his hull with knife and saw, according to the best of his ability. On this process the success of the whole undertaking depends. If the bottom is not cut perfectly true on both sides, if the bow is not shapely and even, if the stern is not rounded off and cut up in the orthodox fas.h.i.+on, his s.h.i.+p will never sail well, no matter how admirably he may execute the rest of his work. If there is a s.h.i.+p or boat builder's establishment anywhere within reasonable walking distance, it will well pay our young s.h.i.+pwright to go there, and study the forms of hulls. Even if he should never build a s.h.i.+p, he ought to know how they look out of the water.

When the hull is properly shaped it must be hollowed out. This is done by means of a ”gouge,” or chisel with a curved edge. A small vessel can be hollowed by means of a knife or ordinary chisel, but it is best to have a ”gouge,” if there is much wood to be taken out. When he has made the interior of his vessel as deep and wide as he thinks proper, he will put a deck on it, if it is a s.h.i.+p or a schooner; but if it is a sail-boat or sloop, he will probably only put in seats (or ”thwarts,” as the sailors call them), or else half-deck it.

Then comes the most interesting part of the work--the rigging. First the masts, which must be light and tapering, and standing back at a slight angle, are set up, and the booms and yards are attached. A great deal of ingenuity can be displayed: in making the booms work well on the masts. The bowsprit is a simple matter, and the stays, or ropes which support and strengthen the masts, are very easily attached, as they are stationary affairs. But the working-tackle and the sails will show whether our young friend has a genius for boat-building or not. If his vessel has but a single mast, and he merely makes a mainsail and a jib, he will not have much trouble; but if he intends to fit out a schooner, a brig, or a s.h.i.+p, with sails that will work (and where is the boy with soul so dead as to have any other kind?), he will find that he will have a difficult job before him. But if he tries hard, and examines the construction and working of sails in real s.h.i.+ps, he will also find that he can do it.

If the vessel is a fine one, she ought to be painted (this, of course, to be done before the sails are finally fastened to the booms and yards), and her name should be tastefully painted on her stern, where of course, a rudder, carefully working on little hooks, is already hung.

It will be very difficult to tell when the s.h.i.+p will be actually finished. There will always be a great deal to do after you think all is done. Flags must be made, and little halyards running nicely through little pulleys or rings; ballast must be provided and adjusted; conveniences for storing away freight, if the s.h.i.+p is large and voyages are contemplated, must be provided; a crew; perhaps a little cannon for salutes; an anchor and windla.s.s, and I am sure I cannot tell you what else besides, will be thought of before the s.h.i.+p is done.

But it will be done some time, and then comes the happy hour!

If the owner is fortunate enough to live near a pond or a brook, so that he can send her right across to where his partner stands ready to receive her, he is a lucky boy indeed.

What a proud moment, when, with all sails set and her rudder fixed at the proper angle, she is launched!

How straight she sits in the water, and how her little streamer begins to float in the wind! Now see her sails gradually puff out! She moves gently from the sh.o.r.e. Now she bends over a little as the wind fills her sails, and she is off! Faster and faster she glides along, her cut.w.a.ter rippling the water in front of her, and her flags fluttering bravely in the air; and her delighted owner, with laughing eyes, beholds her triumphantly scudding over the surface of the pond!

I tell you what it is, boys, I have built a great many s.h.i.+ps, and I feel very much like building another.

THE ORANG-OUTANG.

[Ill.u.s.tration]