ings
which have the misfortune to suffer by comparison. Accepting this as
fact, the Christmas of last year must hide its diminished head before
its present anniversary. We were determined on making our lower deck as
home-like as possible, to deceive ourselves--pleasant fiction!--into the
belief that there were not 120 degrees of longitude between us and our
friends. The admiral behaved like a brick, by contributing largely to
the good cheer. The mess-deck just showed how tastefully sailors can do
things in the way of "get ups" when left to their own devices and
resources. As Christmas, 1880, was by far the jolliest Christmas day we
have spent during our sojourn in China, I will not anticipate by
describing the present, but will reserve for a subsequent page the
pleasure of telling you all about it.

CHAPTER XIII.

"And there on reef we come to grief,
Which has often occurred to _we_."

IN WHICH WE ATTEMPT AN OVERLAND ROUTE, WITH THE
RESULT OF THE TRIAL.

Hail, all hail, to the glad new year! What though there be no crisp
seasonable snow, no exhilarating frost, no cosy chimney nooks, or no
ladies muffs and comfortable ulsters? Let us joy at his birth all the
same, for does he not mark another year nearer the end?--of the
commission I mean.

And now to work. At the annual inspection of our heavy guns it was found
that three at least were so defective in the bore that it was necessary
to condemn them, and replace them by new ones. This entailed a terrible
amount of labour on our men. Hatchways had to be torn to pieces, and
yards rigged with most ponderous blocks, and purchases for the safe
transhipment of these iron playthings. Whatever may be urged against,
there is this to be said in favour of such heavy and unusual evolutions,
that observant men gain largely in practical experience and an extended
acquaintance with the "might be's" of their profession. Fortunately, in
one sense, but few commissions afford such unwelcome opportunities as
ours, for it has been one of accidental, rather than of meditated
experiment.

In the midst of dismal rainy weather the business of refitting had to be
pushed forward, previous to our going in dock; then coaling and
painting--in our ship separate work--and provisioning, swallowed up the
greater part of the month of January.

February 11th.--To-day the "Tyne" arrived from England. To the
expatiated seaman the arrival of a troopship has a greater interest than