oke. Then they examined one by one, and almost piece
by piece upon the upper and lower deck, all those naval appliances such
as rings, grapnels, hooks and bolts, which, with their nice precision
and adaptation, form a kind of colossal _bijouterie_--a sort of iron
jewellery, fantastically gilded with rust by the weather. They walked
round the little signal gun upon the upper deck. "Chained up like a
sporting dog," observed the tourist. "And covered with a waterproof
coat to prevent its taking cold," added the Parisian. As they left the
land further behind, they indulged in the customary observations upon
the view of St. Malo. One passenger laid down the axiom that the
approach to a place by sea is always deceptive; and that at a league
from the shore, for example, nothing could more resemble Ostend than
Dunkirk. He completed his series of remarks on Dunkirk by the
observation that one of its two floating lights painted red was called
_Ruytingen_, and the other _Mardyck_.

St. Malo, meanwhile, grew smaller in the distance, and finally
disappeared from view.

The aspect of the sea was a vast calm. The furrow left in the water by
the vessel was a long double line edged with foam, and stretching
straight behind them as far as the eye could see.

A straight line drawn from St. Malo in France to Exeter in England would
touch the island of Guernsey. The straight line at sea is not always the
one chosen. Steam-vessels, however, have, to a certain extent, a power
of following the direct course denied to sailing ships.

The wind in co-operation with the sea is a combination of forces. A ship
is a combination of appliances. Forces are machines of infinite power.
Machines are forces of limited power. That struggle which we call
navigation is between these two organisations, the one inexhaustible,
the other intelligent.

Mind, directing the mechanism, forms the counterbalance to the infinite
power of the opposing forces. But the opposing forces, too, have their
organisation. The elements are conscious of where they go, and what they
are about. No force is merely blind. It is the function of man to keep
watch upon these natural agents, and to discover their laws.

While these laws are still in great part undiscovered, the struggle
continues, and in this struggle navigation, by the help of steam, is a
perpetual victory won by human skill every hour of the day, and upon
every point of the sea. The admirable feature in steam naviga