out
replying and at the same time to remember his "Sir" when a reply was
necessary.

As we approached the equator it could be seen that some special
interest in the voyage was being taken among the sailors and we
learned that three of them had never crossed the line before and
that an initiation of so doing was about to take place. The crew
assembled at the bow of the ship and at the blowing of a trumpet by
one of their number, Neptune appeared inquiring the name of the ship,
where she was bound, etc., and announced that he would like to pay
her a visit. Before his apparent arrival a staysail had been
fastened to the rigging and filled with water. A bucket had been
filled with a mixture of lamp black and grease with a few other
combinations, while a razor, a foot or more in length, had been made
by the carpenter. As soon as Neptune and Amphitrite--two sailors
fantastically dressed--appeared, the candidate for crossing the line
was blindfolded and brought before them. A number of absurd questions
were asked the candidate and he was finally ordered to be shaved,
which was done by applying the mixture with an old paint brush and
shaving it off with the razor. He was then thrown backwards into the
sail of water and I was much surprised to see how good naturedly the
men took so many surprises--for we had an excellent view from the
quarter deck, of the whole entertainment. We heard afterwards that
it was considered a great success, also that one of the men had been
watching through a glass for the equator, seeming to think that a
straight line passing through the center of the earth should
certainly be seen. He thought he surely saw it when a hair was drawn
tightly across a spy glass without his seeing it and the glass then
given to him.

In one of his rambles about the decks, on a moonlight night, one of
our passengers told me of some of the tattooes he had seen on the
arms of different sailors. One had his mother's gravestone, with a
weeping willow over it; another had the Goddess of Liberty remarkably
well done. The large number of different sketches was really quite an
entertainment. That reminds me of an engraved whale's tooth which I
have in my possession and which was given to my grandfather in
Nantucket many years ago. A full rigged ship with every rope, even to
the smallest one, is carved upon it, with the engraver's name and the
name of the ship. It is now nearly a hundred years old and among my
most prized poss