se small knobs afford the means of lighting the electric
lamp in the lantern on the top of the pilot-house and those in the bow
and stern of the ship. And that is all to which I think I need direct
your attention here at present. Now, if you please, we will go down and
look at the machinery."

The party accordingly left the pilot-house and directed their steps
below by way of the grand staircase. At the bottom of this they found
themselves upon a spacious landing magnificently carpeted, and lighted
at each end by a circular window in the side of the ship. In front of
them as they descended the staircase, and at a distance of about twelve
feet from its base, a partition stretched from side to side of the ship,
evidently forming one of the saloon bulkheads. Along the face of this a
series of Corinthian pilasters, supporting a noble cornice at the
junction of wall and ceiling, divided up the partition into a
corresponding number of panels, which were enriched with elegant
mouldings of fanciful scroll-work and painted in creamy white and gold.
In two instances, however, at points which divided the partition into
three equal parts, the panels were replaced by handsome massively
moulded doors of unpainted aethereum, imparting a very rich and handsome
effect. These doors were, however, closed, and the curiosity of the
new-comers as to what was to be seen on the other side of them had to
remain for a short time ungratified.

Passing round to the back of the grand staircase (in which direction lay
the sleeping apartments, bath-rooms, and domestic offices) they found
themselves at the head of another staircase much narrower than the
former. The one now before them was only about four feet wide, winding
cork-screw fashion round the tube which encased the communications
between the pilot-house and the engine-room, etcetera, and it was in its
turn encased in a cylindrical bulk-head, in which, on their way below,
they passed several doors giving access, as the professor explained, to
the different decks.

Winding their way downward for a considerable distance they at length
reached the foot of the staircase and passed at once through a doorway
marked "Engine Room." The first sensation of those who now visited this
apartment for the first time was disappointment. The room, though full
of machinery, was small, absurdly so, it seemed to them. So also with
the machinery itself. The main engines, consisting of a pair of three