pelled by oars. After gazing at it a moment with great attention through his glass, he exclaimed, in a very excited manner,

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Yes, Grimkie! he is coming! Here he is! I can see his horns !"

Then after a moment's pause he added,

"There are a great many of them,—bulls and oxen, or something. I can see a great many horns. Look! Grimkie. Look !"

So saying, he gave Grimkie the glass, and by the time Grimkie had got the boat into the field of view it had come so much nearer that he could see very plainly that it was very large and that it had a sort of floor in the bottom of it which was completely filled with oxen and cows. The animals stood together as close as they could be packed, and Grimkie could just see their heads and necks above the gunwales of the boat.

"I don't understand how they got them into that boat," said John, "and we will see pretty soon how they make out in driving them up this little stair."

"They won't drive them up there," said Grimkie. "That is the gangway for the passengers. They won't take them into this part of the steamer at all."

"Where will they take them in then ?" asked John.

"Forward," said Grimkie.

"Then let us go forward and see," said John. "Very well," said Grimkie. "This is the way."

There was a broad bridge extending across from one paddle-wheel to the other, at some distance above the main deck, and a walk, with railings on each side, extending fore and aft from this bridge to the quarter deck where Mrs. Morelle and Florence were sitting. The boys went along the walk to the bridge, and there, as they looked down upon the forward deck, an extraordinary spectacle met their view. The space was divided into pens,-made by small iron posts set up in the deck, and strong bars connecting them and these pens were filled with animals of all kinds, cows, sheep, horses, ponies, oxen, and even pigs. These animals had all been taken on board at Shetland,-the produce of the farms there, which the farmers were sending to market.

Among all these animals those which most attracted the attention of the boys, were the Shetland ponies. They stood together in a pen by themselves. They were of various sizes, and although they all had the general form and ap

pearance of the horse, some of them were very small. There was one that John said would be too small even for him.

These ponies were going to England to be sold there to gentlemen who were willing to buy them for their boys, to ride about upon over the smooth gravel roads made in their parks and pleasure-grounds. Such ponies are used too by ladies to drive over the same kind of roads in a small and light open chaise, called a ponychaise.

Before the boys had satisfied themselves with looking at the ponies, their attention was suddenly called away by the arrival of the boatload of cows, which now came up alongside of the steamer at a place where an opening had been made in the bulwarks for the purpose of taking them in. They immediately went over to that side of the steamer, and looked down from their elevated position upon the bridge, to watch the mode of proceeding for getting the cattle on board.

Just beneath them was an iron crane with a small steam engine attached to it, by which it was worked. The whole was upon a small round iron platform, which moved upon a pivot in the deck, in such a manner that the platform could turn in any direction, carrying with it crane,

engine, and all. There was a by upon this platform who governed its motions by two polished iron handles which were connected with the different steam pipes. The boy received his orders from the men who had the management of the cattle, pulling and pushing his handles in different ways, according as they called out, Lower! Hoist! Stop! Turn!

There were two men in the boat with the cattle, crowding their way about among them, without paying the least attention either to their horns or their heels. The people from the deck threw down two broad bands, made of canvas or sail cloth, to these men. The men took one of the bands and passed it under one the cows, between her fore legs and her hind legs, and then brought the edges together over her back. In the meantime the boy had been called upon to "lower," and he turned his handles in such a way as to swing the top of the crane out over the boat and to lower the chain, which had a hook in the end of it, until the men in the boat could reach it and hook it into certain rings in the upper edges of the canvas over the cow's back.

The order was then given to the boy to "hoist," and immediately afterward the little steam engine began rapidly to wind up the chain

whereupon the poor cow found herself suddenly lifted off from her feet, and rising rapidly into the air, her legs hanging down in the most awkward and helpless conditión imaginable. As soon as she was raised fairly above the level of the deck, the men waiting there seized her by the head and horns and swung her in on board, and then the boy lowered her until her feet touched the planks, when she immediately began to spring and scramble to get away. At the same time instant the broad belt by which she had been lifted was dropped, and fell upon the deck and the cow was free. The men led her away by means of a short cord fastened to one of her horns, and put her in a pen with the other cattle.

By this process the cows were all hoisted out of the boat and landed upon the steamer, in a rapid and unceremonious manner. While one cow was coming up, the men in the boat were placing the second band under another one, so as to be ready to hook the chain to her, the moment it came down, and thus not a moment was lost. The words Lower, Hoist, Stop, Turn, followed each other in very rapid succession, and the little piston-rod of the engine plied its strokes in the nimblest possible manner, as cow