DESCRIPTION OF STEAMER. 19 
Each state-room is provided with roomy berths, first-class 
spring matrasses, and patent wash slabs and bowls, with conve- 
nient fixtures,—the latter superior to any we had ever seen. 
Stationary chairs, with revolving backs, along the dining tables 
are a very desirable improvement. 
The engines of this great steamship are a credit to the age in 
which we live. As tide-marks of intellectual development and 
monuments of man’s dominion over matter and over the hidden 
and latent forces of nature, they far transcend the pyramids that 
have excited the wonder and admiration of the world for thous- 
ands of years. While propelling us through the ocean at the rate 
of thirteen miles an hour with a 1,650 horse power, there was 
almost no noise, and every part is so perfectly adjusted that the 
motion of the vessel was as gentle as the rocking of a cradle— 
indeed, more so, for the author found no more difficulty in writing 
at atahkle in the purser’s room, within six feet of the engines, 
than he would at a table in any private house. 
Her boilers, tubular cylindrical, are four in number, each 12 
- feet 8 inches in diameter, and 10 feet 6 inches in length. The 
working pressure is 80 pounds to the square inch. The stroke 
‘of the pistons is 54 inches. 
The ship has a patent condenser of 3,000 feet condensing 
‘surface, by means of which her supply of Croton water taken 
in at New York is vaporized and condensed constantly during 
the voyage, thus avoiding the necessity to a great extent of using 
sea water, and making a very great saving of the boilers, fuel, 
and labor. © 
The propeller has a diameter of 14 feet 3 inches, and it makes 
‘0 revolutions per minute. It is of the Hirsch patent, and has 
four blades, which are so fastened that they can be removed 
when necessary. 
It is interesting to see in how many ways steam power is 
brought into requisition to save labor on thisship, Two donkey 
