128 Crossing the Line 



1832, continued 



no other society, and all, or almost all, whose ordinary social ties have been 

 broken either by the chances of war, or by the very natvire of their roving 

 and desultory life, which carries them they really know not where, and there- 

 fore care not wherefore. 



(Basil Hall. The Lieutenant and Commander; being autobiographical 

 sketches of his own career, from Fragments of voyages and travels. 

 London, 1862. p. 11^-118.) 



Hall says nothing about the ceremony in his reports on his voyages to the west coast of South 

 and North America or to China, holding his comments until this review of his life at sea. This 

 account was first pubhshed in his Fragments of voyages and travels, Edinburgh, 1832, ser. 2, v. 1, 

 but the variant text as it appeared in The lieutenant and commander is printed here. 



[16 February 1832] At sunset that day we were out of sight of St. Paul (or 

 St. Peter), and soon after dark were hailed by the gruff voice of a pseudo- 

 Neptune. A few credulous novices ran upon the forecastle to see Neptune and 

 his car, and were received with the watery honours which it is customary to 

 bestow, on such occasions. 



Next morning we crossed the Equator, and the usual ceremonies were 

 performed. 



Deep was the bath, to wash away aU ill; 



Notched was the razor — of bitter taste the piU. 



Most ruffianly the barber looked — his comb was trebly nailed — 



And water, dashed from every side, the neophyte assailed. 



The disagreeable practice alluded to has been permitted in most ships, 

 because sanctioned by time; and though many condemn it as an absurd 

 and dangerous piece of foUy, it has also many advocates. Perhaps it is one 

 of those amusements, of which the omission might be regretted. Its effects 

 on the minds of those engaged in preparing for its mummeries, who enjoy 

 it at the time, and talk of it long afterwards, cannot easily be judged of with- 

 out being an eye-witness. 



Dming the early ages of navigation, before the invention of the compass, 

 somewhat similar, though really ceremonious rites were observed in Spanish, 

 Portuguese, and Italian vessels, when they passed the more remarkable 

 promontories then known. A modern voyager, Kotzebue, notices this subject 

 in a manner which appears to me so sensible, that I shall quote his words 

 without affecting to add another remai'k. [Then follows the passage from 

 Otto von Kotzebue's A new voyage round the world aheady entered here 

 under 1823 and needing no repetition.] 



(Robert Fitz-Roi. Narrative of the siurveying voyages of his majesty's 

 ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836. London. 

 1839. V. 2, p. 57-58.) 



