a bag, sewn half way up, with two or three large buttons and button holes the rest of the way.

When you are inside this you need have no fear of kicking the clothes off, or of waking up at two o'clock in the morning, when it is coldest, with a leg sticking out of the clothes and aching with the cold. The other blankets or rugs you may find necessary will generally stick on by themselves. Before turning in see that the ropes about the mast are secured so that they will not bang against it, for if it blows in the night they will effectually banish sleep, and it is not a pleasant thing to turn out on deck in the wind and the rain with only one's nightdress on to set matters right.

The two great things to avoid in sleeping on board at night are draughts and closeness of the air. In avoiding the one the other extreme is frequently suffered from, and it need not be said that both are prejudicial. Whatever part is left open for the admission of air, sleep with your head away from it and with your feet well covered. If much mist is rising from the river it is a good thing to have a night light burning in the cabin if you have any fear of the mist. It gives chills and colds to some people. We have had a good deal of experience in sleeping in cabins 6ft. square, and have never known any harm to accrue where common caution is observed. Of course if people sleep on damp cushions with a draught playing on them from a skylight they may expect to sow the seeds of colds and rheumatism or worse. A hammock does not hold moisture like a cushion, and is therefore better for sea work. We slept in the cabin of a yacht which was frozen in on one of the Norfolk Broads during the coldest night of the Christmas of 1879, and were perfectly comfortable.

If you have a good awning or tent to put over the open well or cockpit, then the cabin doors may be left open, and you will feel no draught to hurt you.

As soon as you get up in the morning, if it does not rain, the bedding should be put out on the boom or cabin top to dry while everything is made tidy, and the deck mopped, Then comes the breakfast, and the ever-ready bacon and eggs will possibly be the extent of the cooking. It is not easy to say which is the best cooking apparatus. The paraffin cooking-stoves and apparatus are excellent, while they are new and clean, but there is a great deal of dirt and trouble in trimming the wick and wiping off the oil, which will ooze out, and the smell in a small boat is very offensive. Spirits of wine is the cooking medium which we prefer, and Goy's amateurs' canteen is one of the best amateur arrangements. Its price, we think, is 50s., and as this is rather expensive, a cheaper set may be managed in this way: Buy one of those spirit lamps which have a sort of chimney in the middle with holes around the top of it and a wick encircling the lower part of it. When the latter is set alight the vapour rushes out of the top holes in a roaring flame. This will boil the water in a small kettle or saucepan in a very short space of time. Also get one of those 1s. brass spirit stoves, with a wire network enclosing a sponge on which you pour the spirit. These give a quieter flame, which is excellent for frying bacon or chops. The water for your tea or coffee can be boiled and the bacon fried at the same time, and both will be hot together. The whole may be kept in a tin biscuit-box, and will come much cheaper than any canteen bought at the shop complete. The Rob Roy cuisine is used by many people, but the Russian or furnace lamp is part of the arrangement, and, after a lengthened experience of this, we cannot recommend it for use in a cabin. The volume of flame is sometimes so great as to be dangerous, and several times we have seen a sudden leakage take place and a blaze arise which placed the boat in jeopardy.

One generally feels so well and strong after a few days' cruise

that one is apt to eat and drink rather indiscriminately. Large quantities of beer are often drunk to quench the thirst, and if the beer is public-house stuff, as it frequently is, being procured at out-of-the-way spots, and put into the large stone jug, which is often a "household" god on board, indigestion is a very probable result, and the good done by the fresh air is neutralised. Beer, or indeed any alcoholic liquor, is the worst thing to drink copiously of on a hot day during exertion. Let it be taken at meals, and a glass of grog before turning in, and you will not suffer, but not at other times. Cold tea is the best thing to take during heated exertion. Milk and water, or soda and milk, and cold water itself, are the next best things. These observations do not apply to a day or two's cruise so much as when the cruise extends one, two, or three weeks. A careful regimen is essential to prevent the inconvenience which the sudden change from a sedentary life to an active out-of-doors one will often cause.

On a cruise take with you some simple medicines, such as Eno's fruit salt and Cockle's pills, sticking-plaster, &c., so as to be ready for the little ills which may affect you. Also ammonia for gnat bites, and cold cream to anoint your blistered skin with.

Always wash up after every meal, so that dirty things do not accumulate, and be careful in wiping the steel knives dry, as they rapidly rust. The knife box, too, ought to shut up tight.

At first it seems as if there was not room for everything on board a yacht; but a boat is like a carpet bag, it never knows when it is full, and with neatness and method everything will find a place, and the cabin still look free and tidy.

With regard to lighting at night, candles are the most convenient, and they should have spring cases like carriage lamps, and glasses to keep off the draught.

As over and over again we have started on a cruise and forgotten some little necessary which has proved hard to get

when wanted, we keep a list of requirements, and refer to it each time, ticking off the things we have seen safely on board. As this book is meant to be of use to amateurs, we give a list of what may be termed household requisites for reference, and to see what is really required on board a small boat. It is, in fact, the inventory of our three-ton boat:

And the list may be extended to luxuries ad infinitum.

THE wages of the men employed as crew vary much with the season and the place. For a yacht under ten tons the wages might vary from 25s. to 35s. a week, according to the class of man; while a strong handy lad could be had for 15s. If you have the men for the season you will find them a suit of clothes apiece. They will find themselves with food when you are not on board, but when you are it is best to board them too. A man may be hired for the day for 4s. or 5s. and his "grub."

Your yacht, if more than an open boat, will be kept afloat, and you will have moorings laid down for her in some convenient spot. In laying these down use chain and not rope, and see for yourself that everything is strong and good. The nature of the tides or currents and of the bottom, and especially the height the tide rises, must be taken into calculation. Where there is plenty of room for the yacht to swing as she likes, a single chain with a heavy weight or grapnel at one end and a buoy at the other is sufficient. In a river, two chains, anchors, and buoys, so arranged that the boat will be kept in a line with the river will be necessary, as there will probably not be sufficient room to admit of any lateral swinging. A very complete way is to lay down three weights or anchors in a triangle, and have the three chains meeting in one buoy. This is the securest way of all.