ENTERING DISCO. 
CHAPTER V, 
On the 24th, the sun did not pass below the horizon. 
We had already begun to realize that power of adap- 
tation to a new state of things, which seems to be a 
distinguishing characteristic of man. We marked our 
day by its routine. Though the temptation to avoid 
a regular bed-hour was sometimes irresistible, yet sev- 
en bells always found us washing by turns at our one 
tin wash-basin : at eight bells we breakfasted ; at 
eight again we called to grog ; two hours afterward 
we met at dinner ; and at six o'clock in the afternoon 
we came with laudable regularity to our salt junk and 
coffee. 
Our daily reckoning kept us advised of the recur- 
ring noonday, the meridian starting-point of sea-life ; 
and our indefatigable master had his unvarying hour 
for winding up and comparing the chronometers. It 
is hard not to mark the regulated steps of time, where 
such a man-of-war routine prevails ; and I can scarce- 
ly understand the necessity for the twenty-four hours' 
