OF LA PEROUSE. 3 



heat as on land, in the fame latitude wc had for 

 fome days had a light breeze, which had not a. 

 little contributed to cool the air. 



Seamen are in the habits of ehriftening, in 

 their way, the perfons who crofs the line for the* 

 iirft time; in French fhips this baptifm is per- 

 formed by fouling them with feveral buckets of. 

 fait water; this is fometimes pradtifed in fuch a 

 manner as to divert thofe who are fure of not 

 being fluiced. One of the failors, who is called 

 Le ton homme la ligne> defcends from the main-top 

 with an. oakum beard, and comes and prelides 

 at this nautical entertainment *. 



The 



* It may not be uninterefling to fome readers to have a more 

 particular account of this ceremony, as practifed on board of 

 Englifh men of war. 



Whenever a fhip crofTes the line or the tropics, one of the 

 feamen, who is fuppofed to be " a fellow of infinite jeft," 

 being drefled in a whimfical 'manner to reprefent Neptune, 

 goes over the bows, and, through a fpeaking trumpet, hails the 

 fhip, afking her name ; that of her commander ; whence fhe 

 came ; and whither fhe is bound ? Thefe queftions being refolved, 

 he rifes majefticnlly from the briny waves, and wielding his 

 trident, comes on the forccaftle, accompanied by his confort, who 

 is perfonated by another feaman, alfo fantaftically attired. 

 Being feated in his car (which is previoufly prepared, and is 

 generally compofed of a half-tub fixed on a grating, lafhed to 

 capftern bars), he is borne on the fhoulders of his fuite, and 

 carried in procefllon from the forecaftle to the quarter-deck. 

 The watery god there welcomes the captain to his dominions, 

 and exprefles a hope that he will have no objection to his levy,. 



e 3 tog 



