POWER OF IMAGINATION. — BAPTISM OF SHIPS. 235 
mist, or some other atmospherical phantom, which the superstitious 
imaginations of the sailors have converted into a ship, and attached 
thereto the above fable, as well as many other remarkable histories. 
These peculiar refractions, whereby the hulks of distant vessels 
appear elongated, are well known, as is the elevation of the coast 
seen from the sea, and the Fata Morgana. 
Power of Imagination. 
Dr. Darwin relates the following instance of the power of super- 
stition on the mind, which, two centuries ago, would have been 
accounted witchery: — “A young Warwickshire farmer, finding his 
hedge broken and robbed during a severe winter, determined to watch 
for the thief. He chpse a moonlight night, and lay many hours 
beneath the shade and shelter of a haystack. He sufiered much 
from the cold, and at midnight was about to retire ; but at the 
moment appeared a decrepit old woman, in appearance much cor- 
responding with the popular notion of a witch : she hastily collected 
a bundle of sticks from the hedge, and was about to carry them off ; 
the farmer sprang from his concealment, and seized the old woman, 
as the nightly thief of his property. After some struggling, the old 
woman, who displayed great personal strength and determination, 
suddenly knelt down upon her bundle of sticks, and, after silently 
raising her withered arms to the moon, then at the full, she thus 
addressed the already half-frozen farmer : ‘Heaven grant thou mayest 
never again enjoy the blessings of warmth!' The terrified farmer 
left her, and and made his w^ay home, under the full effect of the cold 
spell. He complained of extreme cold the following day; w^ore an 
extra upper coat — then another — and at length, in despair, took to 
his bed, which was continually heaped with blankets, which covered 
even his face — and in which he actually lay until his death, which 
did not happen until twenty years afterwards.’’ 
Baptism of Ships. 
This is a burlesque ceremony on board merchant ships, practised 
both on vessels and persons who pass the tropic or line for the first 
time. The baptizing a vessel is simple, and consists only in washing 
it throughout with sea water; that of the passengers is more myste- 
rious. The oldest of the crew that has passed the tropic or line, 
comes with his face blackened, a grotesque cap on his head, and 
some sea-book in his hand, followed by the rest of the seamen dressed 
like himself, each having a kitchen utensil in his hand, with drums 
beating ; he places himself on a seat on the deck, at the foot of the 
main-mast. At the tribunal of this mock magistrate, each passenger, 
not yet initiated, swears he will take care the same ceremony be 
observed whenever he is in the like circumstances. Then, by giving 
a little money by way of gratuity, he is discharged with a sprink- 
ling of water; otherwise he is heartily drenched. The ship-boys are 
enclosed in a cage, and ducked at discretion.— The seamen, on bap- 
tizing the ship at this time, pretend to a right of cutting off the beak or 
