Life on hoard Ship. 23 



Sunday alone breaks the monotony of life on board, when, 

 after the diurnal cleaning- of the ship, and the inspection of 

 the crew, the officers, and all the men who are not on duty, 

 assemble for divine service on the lower gun-deck, where the 

 chaplain says mass on a temporary altar, whilst the ship's 

 band performs sacred music. In the afternoon the men off 

 duty amuse themselves for a couple of hours with the " tom- 

 bola" a game much liked by our sailors. Between 6 and 7 

 P.M. the band plays on deck, whilst the sailors are cutting 

 grotesque figures to the music. The singular capers by which 

 all evince their happiness ; the good-humoured awkwardness 

 with which each clings to the brawny arm of his companion ; 

 the mock graceful air those who enact the gentler sex assume 

 in the dance, and, finally, the affected attitude with which the 

 cavaliers bow to their partners as if they really were of the 

 gentler sex — all this is most ludicrous and amusing. The 

 playing the national dance " Monferina" always elicits a 

 particularly hearty reception. There is a peculiar charm in 

 national melodies, even though they awaken no political remi- 

 niscences like the Marseillaise, or the Rakoczy ; they electrify 

 alike the educated and the men of the people 5 a thousand 

 pleasing recollections suddenly crowd into the memory, and 

 when the well-known tunes strike the ear, the heart seems 

 to live again in bygone times I As if touched by magic, the 

 sailor from the Adrid,tic, as soon as the Monferina is struck 

 up, seizes his neighbour by the arm with a noisy shout and 

 hurls him about in wild hilarity ; his thoughts seem as if flying 

 towards his distant home, where, in the country inn, with a 



