by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
GAUGING THE WATER-CASK.
My next operation was to put all the biscuits back into the box, forstrewed loosely about as they were, they interfered seriously with theaccommodation of my cabin, which by their bulk was diminished more thanhalf. In fact, I had scarce room to turn myself in, so long as theyremained outside the case, and I therefore lost no time in restoringthem to their former place of deposit. To make the box hold them all, Iwas obliged to pack them in regular rows, as they had been before; withthis difference, that the case having been tilted on its side, thebiscuits had been lying with their edges in a horizontal position,whereas I now built them vertically--the proper mode of packing suchgoods, and the way in which they had been placed when they came from thestores of the baker. Of course, it mattered not which way, as regardsthe space they would take up. On the flat side, or on their edges, itwas all the same; and when I counted in the thirty-one dozen and fourodd, the box was full, with only a little empty space in the corner,which the eight missing biscuits had formerly occupied.
So, then, I had taken stock of my larder, and now knew the exact amountof provision I had to depend upon. With two biscuits _per diem_ I couldstand siege for a little better than six months. It would not be highliving, yet I resolved to do with even less, for I could not feelcertain that six months would be the full period of my privations. Iformed the resolution to make two a day the rule, and never to exceedthat number; and on such days as I felt best able to bear hunger, Ishould stint my measure a quarter or half a biscuit, or even a wholeone, if I found it possible. This economic purpose, if successfullycarried out, would throw forward the day of absolute want to a muchlonger period than six months.
My food being thus rationed out, it appeared equally necessary that Ishould know the quantity of water I might use each day. To ascertainthis, at first appeared to be beyond my power. Apparently I had nomeans of measuring what remained in the butt. It was an old wine orspirit cask--for such are the vessels generally used on board ships tocarry water for their crews--but what kind of wine-cask I could nottell, and therefore I could not even guess at the quantity it might havecontained when full. Could I only have established this point, I shouldthen have been able to make a rough calculation as to what had beenalready spent; rough, but perhaps sufficiently precise for my purpose.
I remembered well the _table of liquid measure_--I had good reason toremember it--the most difficult of all the tables to commit to memory.I had received many a smart rodding, before I was able to repeat itover; but I at length succeeded in getting it _pit-pat_.
I knew that wine-casks are of very different dimensions, according tothe sort of wine they contain: that under the different names of"pipes", "butts", "hogsheads", "puncheons", "tuns," and "pieces," theyhold more or less, from the hogshead of hock of thirty gallons to thegreat tun of wine containing 252. That the spirits--brandy, whiskey,rum, gin; and the wines--sherry, Port, Madeira, Teneriffe, Malaga, andmany other sorts, are transported in casks of different capacity, butusually containing about 100 gallons. I even remembered the number ofgallons of each, so well had my teacher--a great statistician--drilledme in "liquid measure;" and could I only have known what sort of winehad once been carried inside of my water-butt, I could have told itsmeasure in a moment. I fancied there was the "bouquet" of sherry aboutit, and that would have made it a "pipe" of 108 gallons; but it mighthave been a Madeira pipe, which holds only 92, or Cape, or Marsala,which are about the same size. It might have been Port, which wouldhave stretched its capacity to 115, or a puncheon of Scotch whiskey,some of which contain 120 gallons. I did not think it had been thislast, else I should have known the peculiar "twang" which Scotch whiskeygives to water, however diluted it may be. Certainly, there was aperceptible flavour of some liquor, but I was too young to beexperienced in drinks, and I learnt nothing from this. No doubt awine-taster could have told in an instant what sort had formerly filledthe barrel, for an old wine-cask will retain the particular "bouquet" ofthe wine it had carried after performing several voyages as awater-butt.
I drew out the stopper, and tasted the water. I had not thought ofnoticing its flavour before. It appeared to me to be sherry; but as Ihave said, it might be Madeira, which would make a difference of sixteengallons--an important item in a calculation such as I was desirous ofmaking. I therefore could not trust to my judgment to make this thebasis of a computation, and I had to think of some other device.
Fortunately in my school arithmetic there were a few hints uponmensuration, and the good master had instructed us in these.
I have often wondered that the simple but useful problems of thisbranch, of science are so much neglected, while the most useless andirrational rhymes are hammered into the heads of poor unfortunate boys.I have no hesitation in giving my opinion, that a knowledge of simplemensuration, which may be obtained in a week's study, is of more valueto an individual--or to the whole human race, if you will--than aperfect scholarship in all the dead languages of the world. Greek andLatin! These have been very barriers to the advancement of knowledge!
Well, I was saying that my old teacher had taught me a few simpleproblems in mensuration; and fortunately I still held them in my memory.I could tell the solid contents of a cube, of a parallelopipedon, of apyramid, of a globe (nearly), of a cylinder, and of a cone. The lastwas the figure that now interested me.
I knew that a barrel was a pair of cones--that is, truncated cones or_frustums_--with the bases resting against each other. Of course, whenI was taught how to measure a cone, I was also instructed to do the samewith the frustum of one.
To ascertain the capacity of my butt, therefore, it was only necessaryfor me to know its length--or its half-length would do as well--itscircumference at either end, and also its circumference around thethickest part or "swell." These three measurements given me, I couldtell to a quart how much water would fill it--in other words, I couldcalculate how many cubic inches of water it should contain. Knowingthis, I should simply have to divide by 69 and a small fraction over,and this would give me the number of quarts, which another simpledivision of 4 would reduce to gallons, if I required to use thisstandard.
I perceived, therefore, that if I could get the three measurements, Icould soon tell the capacity of my butt; but therein lay the difficulty.How were these measurements to be obtained?
I might have obtained the length, for that was before me from end toend; but how should I get the circumference either of the middle or ofeither end? I could not reach over the top, nor around the ends. Bothdirections were blocked up against me.
Another difficulty stared me in the face. I had nothing wherewith tomeasure them--neither rule nor tape--no standard by which I coulddetermine the number of feet or inches; so that even had all sides beenfree to me, I should still have been in a dilemma.
I was determined, however, not to yield the point until I had given it agood thinking. The occupation would help me to pass the time; and, as Ihave already hinted, this was a matter of primary importance. Besides,that faithful old schoolmaster had many a time impressed upon us thevaluable truth, that perseverance often finds success where successappears impossible. Remembering this bit of admonition, I resolved notto regard the thing as impracticable, until I had exhausted all mypowers of contrivance.
I persevered, therefore, and in less time than I must take in describingit, I hit upon a plan for "gauging" the butt.