FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 101 
Tuesday, 2$tk Oct. — On the line ; long. 27.4. 
We crossed the line to-day. Somebody saw it under 
the bow this morning, a long, thin, glittering silver wire 
away deep down in the blue sea, and now the fledglings 
are crowing at the prospect of shaving Arctic veterans. 
The old men object ; one does, at least— a hardy Peter- 
head, man, of perhaps thirty Arctic summers; but he must 
submit. * 
At twelve o'clock Neptune climbed over our bows 
and stood on the focsle-head, just as if he had come up 
from the bottom of the sea. He was followed by her 
Majesty ; as she had a delicate tendency to embonpoint, 
and was incommoded by her petticoats, it took some 
hauling on the part of her husband and shoving from 
the royal officials below to bring her on deck. After her 
came the officials themselves, the whole party having been 
sitting out of sight on the martingale-stays waiting for 
this auspicious moment 
I must try to describe the ceremony and the costumes 
of the actors. Never before has there been such a 
complete recognition of Neptune's rights, for we attended 
to both the observances of crossing the Line and the Arctic 
Circle. His Majesty and her Royal Highness wore their 
full robes of state, and their magnificence was only 
excelled by the royal dignity of their carriage. His 
Majesty (Charles Campbell, A.B., The Cockney) was clad 
in belt and tunic of dull brown, with a scarlet pattern on 
it ; on his lower extremities he wore hose of the same 
colour, and the costume might with safety be described a!s 
that of the early part of the thirteenth century. But the 
