A LAND OF WATERWAYS 9 



approach the English-speaking peoples in the 

 common use of sea terms. Other foreigners 

 employ different phrasing altogether. Their 

 landsmen never ' clear the decks for action,' 

 are never * brought up with a round turn,' or 

 even ' taken aback,' as if by the wind on the 

 wrong side. They never have ' three sheets 

 in the wind,' even when they do get ' half seas 

 over.' They don't ' throw a man overboard,' 

 even when the man is one of those unfortunates 

 who is apt to get ' on his beam ends.' The 

 facetious ' don't speak to the man at the 

 wheel ' and the cautious ' you 'd better not sail 

 so close to the wind ' have no exact equivalents 

 for the Slav or Latin man in the street. 



These, and many more, are common ex- 

 pressions which Anglo-Canadians share with 

 the stay-at-home type of Englishman. But 

 the special point is that, like the American, the 

 Canadian is still more nautical than the 

 Englishman in his everyday use of sea terms. 

 * So long ! ' in the sense of good-bye is a 

 seaport valediction commoner in Canada 

 than in England. Canadians go ' timber-cruis- 

 ing ' when they are looking for merchantable 

 trees ; they used to understand what ' prairie 

 schooners ' were out West ; and even now 

 they always ' board ' a train wherever it may 



