Page 378 - Child's own book

the ship made Lee Boo sick, so that he was often obliged fo lie
down. Next morning, no land could be seen,, and this much
amazed him. Captain Wilson now gave him a shirt, waistcoat,
and pair of trowsers, which he put on; but the two first articles
were \*ery uneasy to him, and therefore he took them off, and
folded them up* to serve only as a pillow ; yet soon conceiving an
idea of indelicacy in having no clothing, he never appeared with­
out his trowsers; and as the vessel advanced northward to a
colder climate, he found less and less uneasiness in the use of his
jacket and shirt, and his dislike of them was lost in his ijnick
senile of propriety j this increasing daily, soon grew too great to
let him change his dress in the presence of another person, and
he afterwards constantly retired for that purpose to some dark
corncr w here none could see him.
There is a saying; well worthy attention, that “ cleanliness is
next to godliness/' and Lee Boo seemed to fed it, being remark­
ably clean in his person, and washing himself several times a-day.
The 16th of November, being Sunday, prayers were devoutly
read upon deck ; the mercies of Providence being too apparent
in their delivery not to leave a deep sense thereof on the minds
of all the crew, who offered their devotions with hearts full of
gratitude. At daylight of the 25th, the ship came in sight of
the Bashee Islands, lying about three leagues distant. Lee Boo
was much delighted at this* earnestly requesting to be told their
names, which were repeated till he could pronounce them, and
he then took a piece of line, tying a knot in it os a memoran­
dum of (he event. The people of the Pclew Islands always
make remarks by tying knots in a line, and for this purpose Lee
Boo brought one with him. Holding on their course without
interruption, on Friday, the 2Sth, they saw several Chinese
fishing-boats, and next morning land appeared ; they made their
way amongst the islands till six o’clock in the evening, when1
a * ‘2