A Cruise on the S.)'. " P^cctis." 14I 



many rare plants are sure to l)e met with. Whilst if neither of 

 these hobbies interest you. the constant ohans^es of place and 

 scenery cannot fail to jilease. The following;- account of a trip 

 taken in July. 1904. will |L;ive some idea of what one mav expect 

 to see. The .S.\'. N'ectis. the vessel on which my pal and self 

 decided to book passaij;es was a P. & (J. liner of 6.000 tons, and 

 this was her first trip as a pleasure yacht. The cruise was to 

 take 28 days and was to include a visit to Spitzljer.^en and the 

 Polar ice-pack. It was with considerable excitement that we left 

 London in a special train for Tilbury Dock, on the mornin.s^ of 

 the 6th July. Some of our fellow fiasseni^ers looked decidedly 

 weird in their travellini;- costumes, and speculations as to what 

 they would be like to live with for a month were min.^ied with 

 doubts as to whether our bagg'age would or would not turn up 

 on the yacht. When we reached Tilbury we were all taken to 

 the I'cctis in a tender and after the usual flurry and disorder 

 we were at last installed in our cabins. My pal and I had 

 selected cabins amidship. the most desirable i)osition on. the 

 vessel. It was his first experience of travel and he was rather 

 inclined to grumble at the size of his cabin. I had to point out 

 to him that he could not expect on board ship to find bedrooms 

 as large as those hewas used to at home As a matter :of fact, 

 when Ave got used to them, we found them amply big enough and 

 most conveniently fitted up. Being on deck, we were able to 

 sleep with our doors open at night, and so got plenty of fresh 

 air, which is not always to be obtained in the cabins on the 

 lower deck. Early in the afternoon, we got under way, and were 

 followed down the river by a large flock of Lesser Black-headed 

 Gulls, so well known to Londoners. At the mouth of the river 

 most of them left us, to return uji-stream. Their place was 

 taken by a few Herring Gulls, which followed us nearly all 

 the way to Norway. At dinner in the evening we met our table 

 companions for the voyage, and we thought ourselves lucky in 

 being billeted with such charming people. The dining room on 

 the J'ecfis is alarge well-appointed saloon, and it has the great 

 advantage of being roomy enough to seat all the passengers at 

 the same time, thus doing away with the necessity of serving 

 the meals in relays, always a source of strife amongst the pas- 

 sengers on vessels with less dining-room accommodation. 



