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invention, and if enthusiasm merits success he ought to succeed. 

 There certainly seemed to be plenty of orders on hand, for the 

 yard was all alive with shipwrights and boats in various stages of 

 progress.* The second brake having turned up, or rather turned 

 out, Mr. Berthon showed the members the various inventions in 

 his line — large lifeboats that will hold 14 horses and 40 men; 

 small yacht dingies and fishing boats ; duplex boats, serving as 

 tents on shore and folding up into handy sizes to be carried, when 

 separate, on either side of a camel or a horse, rejoicing in the 

 name of skenoscaplws ; and small canoes for one person — in fact, 

 inventions capable of much expansion and future utility, made of 

 two skins of waterproof canvas, filled with air by the mere act 

 of opening and setting them up, and ribbed with Canadian elm. 

 The boats have many advantages over other lifeboats, both in 

 their capabilities of floating and sustaining blows without injury. 

 A little book containing the necessary information as to their size 

 and price was distributed. The invention is now in the hands of 

 a Company. It was not far from the bustle of the yard to the 

 quiet precincts of the Abbey ; and for those who had not seen 

 before one of England's finest Norman abbeys, a great treat was 

 in store for them. Mr. Berthon, if great in the yard, was still 

 greater here in the interior of the Abbey he loves so much, and 

 every stone of which seemed to be as familiar to him as the boats 

 he had watched building. Step by step the history of the 

 building was given, commencing with the beginning of the 12th 

 century, and passing on through the Transition, Early English, 

 Decorated, down to the period when the recent ugly parapet 

 disfigured the outside walls of nave and aisles. A stone crucifix 

 in one of the side chapels was pointed out as a portion of the 

 original church, and the date of the 10th century suggested for 



* Mr. Berthon writes that the Company have, since our visit, 

 received orders from the Orient S.S. Company ; and their big ship — the 

 "Orient" — 5,500 tons, is now (June) on her way to Sydney with 

 Berthon boats. 



