OUR DICK. 47 



stowing return cargo, and being a new- 

 comer in the country, like the diminutive 

 Christopher Columbus that he was, he 

 began to spy out the land 'and the natives. 

 Now, some of the natives whose cabins 

 line the water front of San Francisco, 

 I am sorry to say, would "shanghai" 

 even a missionary if he ventured in their 

 quarters after nightfall. To "shanghai" 

 means, in sailors' slang, to kidnap an 

 unsuspecting wayfarer for the purpose of 

 making him an involuntary sailor, for a 

 reward. The crews of merchant ships, 

 when regular sailors are scarce, are said 

 to be recruited in this way just as were 

 those of men-of-war by the press-gang in 

 old times. 



These scurvy rogues know the good 

 points of a dbg as well as those of a 

 man, and as some of them have rat-pits 



