to the other. At the
afterpart she has a large house, lightly built, the roof of which forms
a poop, while the interior serves, I have no doubt, for the cabin of the
skipper, and probably for his wives and children, as well as his
passengers and the whole of his crew. She has a heavy, rough spar for a
mast, tapering towards the head and raking forward. The sail which they
are now just hoisting is, in shape, like a right-angled triangle, with a
parallelogram below its base; the hypothenuse or head of the sail is
secured to a yard, like an enormous fishing-rod; the halyards are
secured to it about a third of the way from the butt-end, and it is
hoisted close up to the head of the mast. A tackle brings down the
lower end of the yard to the deck, and serves to balance the lofty
tapering point, while the sheet is secured to the lower after-corner of
the sail. Though many of the smaller dhows have only one mast, that big
fellow has two, with a sail of the same shape as the first, but more
diminutive. The larger sail is of preposterous proportions, and it
seems wonderful that she can carry it without being capsized. It
appears to be formed of a strong soft cotton canvas, of extreme
whiteness. Those vessels don't tack, but when beating to windward wear
by putting up the helm and taking the sheet round before the yard and
bringing it aft again on the other side; the deepest part of the dhow
being, as you see, under the foremast, it forms a pivot round which the
shallow stern, obeying the helm, rapidly turns. Clumsy as they look, I
hear that these craft are wonderfully fast, and, with the wind free,
will put us on our mettle to overhaul them."

"I should like to judge for myself on that point," observed Mildmay.
"Fellows who have allowed prizes to escape them always declare that the
craft they have chased is faster than anything afloat."

"I hope we shall have the chance before long," said Adair; "we must keep
a bright lookout from the ship and try to do what we can. The commander
intends running down the coast, and then despatching all the boats which
can be spared to look into the creeks and harbours, and other
hiding-places in which any slavers are likely to take shelter. I should
like to go on such an expedition myself, if the commander can spare me,
shouldn't you?"

"No, thank you," answered Mildmay; "I've no fancy for going away and
sleeping in an open boat, without a change of linen or any of the
necessaries