cii. 1.1 Floating Homes. 1 3 



stand on board a tight little vessel when there is, accord- 

 ing to the poetry of youthful memory, 



" k wet sheet and a flowing sea, and a wind that follows fast." 



In the joy of the moment you do not wonder at the 

 sea-fights, the hrave sailors, and the corsairs of old ; the 

 men who love tlie sea and can struggle with it through 

 all its moods and phases, will be brave anywhere. If 

 the sea does not nerve a man to brave actions, nothing^ 

 else ever i\'in. Life on the sea is most refreshing to the 

 average landsman, and on board ship time flies more 

 pleasantly perhaps than anywhere else, if it be true that 

 " sweet do nothing " is the acme of enjoyment. What 

 an appetite the sea-breezes give one for breakfast, which 

 is perhaps of all meals that least enjoyed by inland resi- 

 dents on shore. Om- floating cities are the triumphs 

 of modem civilised ingenuity ; and during propitious 

 weather in a warm climate, life afloat possesses for the 

 time a freshness and novelty unobtainable elsewhere. 



