THE SURVEYING SERVICE. 5TJ 



golden opinions from her success in prize -making ; 

 while my old friend has extensively contributed to 

 our geographical knowledge. 



There was only one drawback to the pleasure 

 I experienced on arriving in England, — namely, 

 that Lieut. G. Gore did not obtain his promotion, but 

 was compelled to seek it by a second voyage to the 

 North Pole. All the mates were, in the course of a 

 short time, promoted, and the ship's company re- 

 ceived the favour of having half of their slop bill 

 deducted, an indulgence which the Lords of the 

 Admiralty, from the kindest and most considerate 

 motives, have in some instances bestowed upon the 

 crews of surveying vessels, on their return from dis- 

 tant voyages. This boon, however, in some in- 

 stances, operates unfairly. In the first place, it 

 often happens, in spite of the strictest surveil- 

 lance, that the worst characters will, if they can, 

 take up the greatest quantity of slops, which they 

 convert either into money or grog, whenever an 

 opportunity presents itself. The really steady men 

 generally look clean and neat as long as possible, 

 without much assistance from the purser. Then 

 again, the boats' crews of all surveying vessels are 

 necessarily so much more exposed, that they not 

 only the sooner wear out their ordinary clothing, 

 but absolutely require additional comforts in that 

 way. I am therefore strongly of opinion that, in 

 this department, (and I speak from experience,) the 

 Captain should be allowed a certain portion of slops, 

 to be placed at his disposal, and distributed under 



