he could have found it, he thought, without
difficulty. Would 220 do as well, or 730, or
102, or nought and carry one, or six times three
is eighteen? I was sorry to give so much
trouble to a man who was unacquainted with
the plan of the ship; but I thought it best to
seek for my proper place, having a strong
objection to be turned out of bed by an indignant
stranger at some unknown hour of the
night or morning. The steward procured a
candle, and we began to examine the vessel.

We went down a broad staircase amongst the
cellars of Lower Thames-street; and we went
up-stairs again, in another direction, and down
stairs once more in another. We passed many
carpenters, who were driving nails into walls,
or sawing blocks of wood, or arranging fittings.
We disturbed the repose of many jack-planes
which were reclining in unfinished berths, and
we interfered very much with the toilet of
several workmen who lived in the places they
were engaged to finish. We went into
compartments containing three-shelf beds, two-shelf
beds, and six-shelf beds; compartments without
sofas, and compartments with sofas; compartments
with portholes through which we could see
the dark line of country on the river-bank, and
hear the ripple of the water; and inner
compartments where the bed-shelves were painfully
close to the door, and the ventilation of a more
than doubtful character. The bedroom steward
was evidently taking his first unwilling lesson in
learning the topography of the ship, and I was
profiting by the same experience in a much
more cheerful temper. The journey taught me
that the fore-part was, in this vessel, constructed
so as to be the best part of the ship; that the
dining and drawing saloons were built along the
centre, and that the sleeping apartments
clustered in quadruple rows, and double tiers of
cells round the sides of the floating island.
When 645 was at last found, it was in the
possession of a troop of contractors' men, who
had made it so dirty, and had so perfumed it
with tobacco, that I felt no desire to disturb
them. If a printed notice on the door had not
given them some show of authority for being
where they were, they had taken the most
efficient means, as far as I was concerned, to secure
themselves as masters of the situation.

Once more, then, the weary, bewildered,
flustered bedroom steward retraced his steps,
being met at every turn by persons who
wished to know where they were; who told
him to put a can of water into 228; to see
that no one took unlawful possession of 818;
to remember that 117 was engaged for Mr.
De Pass and family during the whole series
of voyages; and to call 614 at six o'clock
A.M., and not to forget the clean pair of
Wellington boots, and a can of hot shaving-water. I
began to relent in my persecution of this
unfortunate servant of the company, and I took the
first berth he offered me, after this, in a sort of
Manchester warehouse, filled with unopened
trusses of blankets under the grand saloon, the
number of which was 444, an easy number to
remember. Immediately opposite the door of
this apartment was a large square structure,
which went from floor to ceiling, and a couch
upon which I saw a cool night's rest in perspective
if I disliked the ventilation of my substituted
cabin. The large square structure was
that portion of the fore main paddle-engine-
funnel, which stood between the second and
third decks.

Having devoted so much, time and exertion to
the discovery of a sleeping berth, I was rather
disappointed on finding that sleep was not an
article supplied by the company on board their
floating island. I am not a restless man, but I
am unable to slumber within hearing of the siege
of Sebastopol, the workshops of a hundred active
Tubal Cains, the barking roar of some great
steam monster puffing up a pipe as broad as a
main sewer, the ceaseless blows of a steam
water-pumping engine, and the fretful tapping
of an iron chain against the iron casing of the
vessel. It was not necessary to add the barking
of a dog to this, except to fill up the intervals
between the louder noises of the floating
island.

The sights of the early morning on deck were
the arrival of the pilot, as usual in a dress-coat,
and the heaving of Mr. Trotman's patent
anchor. Why all pilots should attend to work
a vessel in opera costume, I shall never understand;
but why the patent anchor should be
very obstinate in moving from the bottom, is
much more clear of comprehension, when I
remember that the Admiralty have set their faces
against it.

The obstinacy of the anchor in moving was a
fault on the right side, and it gave me an
opportunity of observing the working of an entirely
new motive power in mechanics. It is called
piccolo power, from " piccolo," a small flute.
The upper and lower capstans are manned by
a crowd of sturdy men, and the poles only begin
to move, and the anchor to rise, when the small
flute is played by an attendant Orpheus in a
blue jacket. The tune is supposed by the
ignorant to regulate the steps of the men, but no
sensible person can be led away, for a moment,
by this shallow opinion. I shall prepare a paper
upon piccolo power for an early meeting of the
Royal Society.

Another of the sights on board was Mr.
Gray's well-known invaluable patent machine
for adjusting the ship's compasses. For those
who were not capable of understanding the
scientific use of this apparatus, there was a
Michael Angeloesque lion on the outer case,
which would always be worth its cost at any
Art Union in the country. To those who had
no taste for high art, science had kindly
addressed itself in an humble and attractive cloak,
and the case of the machine was suggestive of a
brass retort for brewing hot elder wine, or a
liighly advanced baked-potato can.

Wandering down below, I came suddenly
upon a small imitation of Newgate Market, the
meat-house of the floating island. It was
tolerably fall of slaughtered carcases of various