FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 341 
thirst that lasted out a month's advanced pay, and instead 
of settling down to domestic happiness, Sandy was 
carried on board ship a week later — very drunk and 
shameless, an old grey-haired sailor, bound for Hell and 
Hong Kong.' 
( Daumned auld fule !' — remarked the fireman at the end 
of the story as he got up to rake out the furnace. And 
so he was, no doubt, but one felt sorry for the old wreck. 
Almost all our crew, old and young, are married. 
They apparently marry in Dundee between the ages 
of fifteen and twenty, on £1 a week and a childlike 
faith that their bread and butter will be provided 
daily. At twenty-five they have large families, and at 
forty they have grandchildren. Whilst we sat there, 
leaning against the timbers of the ship in the light of a 
smoky flare-lamp, talking of these matters of high import 
I drew the engineer, who was on my right hand. It was 
by way of a funny caricature. I thought he was un- 
c j2£rried from his youth and generally happy-go-lucky air, 
and I drew an ideal picture of him as he might appear in 
yea.vs to come, walking out with a damsel, a perambulator, 
and two and a half brace of kids. To my astonishment, 
he criticised the drawing by finding fault with the number 
of kids. There ought to have been two more, possibly 
three, he said. 
The needs of this class of men are simple, merely food 
and covering. These they can obtain by grinding in- 
dustry, and consequently repeat themselves ad lib. When 
they are taught, or come to realise that they have crav- 
ings for higher things — Nature, and Art, and Music — as 
