s of a strong and well-stretched hawser, passed up and down
successively, in perpendicular turns, over the bowsprit and through a
hole horizontally cut in the stem. At each turn the gammoning hawser
is hove taut, while every effort is used to bring the bowsprit down
into its place. A heavy boat is sometimes suspended from the end, the
weight of which greatly assists the gammoning process. Another set of
ropes, called bob-stays, extending from about one-third from the outer
end of the bowsprit to the cut-water, nearly at the water-line,
contribute essentially to its stability. It is further secured in a
lateral direction by shrouds reaching from its extremity to the bows
of the ship.

I need not mention, that, in order to give a finish, as it were, to
the end of the ship, and to convert that into a source of ornament
which might otherwise be deemed a deformity, the top of the stem has
been appropriated as the position of the figure-head, the
characteristic emblem of the vessel. In some ships the sailors pride
themselves especially on the beauty of their figure-head; and many a
time have I seen the captain of the forecastle employed for hours in
painting the eyes, hair, and drapery of his favourite idol. I suppose
few commanding-officers will allow of this liberty; for it must be
owned that as Jack's taste in female beauty, and in the disposition
and colours of dress, are borrowed from a very questionable model, his
labours in adorning the figure-head are apt to produce strange
monsters. I once heard of a captain who indulged his boatswain in this
whim of representing his absent love as far as the king's allowance of
paint could carry the art; and it must be owned, that, as the original
Dulcinea owed her roses to the same source, the representation "came
very close aboard of the original," as the delighted boatswain
expressed it. This very proximity in colouring, scantiness of drapery,
and so forth, which formed the boatswain's pride, perplexed the worthy
captain, who had given his sanction to the work, for he could never
cross the bows of his own ship with a party of friends, without
raising a laugh at the expense of his taste in figures. The whole
crew, however, soon fell as much in love with the damsel as the
boatswain had done before them; and it would have been cruel to have
sent the painter to daub her ladyship all over with one uniform
colour, according to the general fashion. The considerate commander
took a diff