dividers and parallel rules, or even, say, the cork-*screw, is almost as bad as to have to fumble about in search of a halyard which has been belayed to a wrong cleat. When upholstering the cabin, bear in mind that sea-water is likely to get into it now and again, so do not cover your bunks with materials whose colour is likely to wash out; dark flannel makes the best colour for the bunks, and is not cold to sleep on like American cloth. The floor carpeting should be capable of being easily washed and rapidly dried; for a small yacht nothing is so good as cocoanut matting.
In the forecastle of the small cruiser are kept the stove and cooking-pots, the lamps, mops, brooms, and so forth. On some boats the spare sails are kept here, and one's oilskins can hang on the walls. The chain-locker is also in the forecastle. If the chain is a long one it should be divided into two or more lengths, which can be connected when necessary by shackles. In the chain-locker should be stowed a length of chain sufficient for ordinary working purposes. The rest of the chain can be stowed under the cabin flooring on the top of the ballast, to be brought out and shackled on to the working chain when heavy weather or bad holding-ground necessitate riding to a long scope of cable. To have all one's chain in the locker is to carry superfluous weight in the very place where it should not be, in the bows of the vessel, where it tends to drag her nose down, prevents her rising to the
