the which came in yesterday afternoon.' He was asked, 'Are they drunk?' and the answer was, 'Yes, violent; we've got 'em locked up.' Then he was asked, 'What time did they come on board?' and he said 'Nine o'clock.'

Now, the British Consul's office where men sign articles on British ships closes at 3 p.m., and opens at 10 a.m. Even if these men did get ashore by 2.30 p.m., which was impossible, it is ridiculous to think that, fresh from a six months' voyage, they would go within half an hour of landing and sign articles on another long-voyage ship going a four or five months' trip. We all know that, easily taken in as sailors are, they would never do that. They were on board the

by 9 a.m. in a drunken state, and the Consul's office did not open till 10 a.m. Who, then, signed the articles, and their two months' advance away? On this and kindred subjects being mentioned to a shipping authority, his reply was that it was best not to mention these things, as they had to be done in busy times. There is no question that numbers of captains abominate and detest the 'ring' which mainly controls the shipping of seamen in San Francisco. If things were made more

tolerable for men on the ships, large numbers who now desert would not do so, and they would not be under the necessity of getting men in such large numbers, as at present, through shipping and boarding masters.

Sometimes men, when there is little shipping going on, have to stay ashore some time before they can get a ship. The boardingmaster, when he has to keep them some two or three weeks, however, amply makes up any little expenses incurred in food, etc., when the busy times come, and he gets a number of £8 notes for a forty-eight hours' stay ashore. Men who stay ashore two or three weeks or so come off the ship generally well-dressed, looking neat and up to the mark. In a very few days the neat appearance is generally conspicuous by its absence. The clean collar is no longer visible, and a beard, moustache, etc., may be observed beginning to grow; clothes get dirty, the better ones often finding their way into the pawn-shop, and it soon becomes apparent what contact with the lower elements of San Francisco means. In the great majority of cases the sailor or apprentice who deserts in San Francisco suffers not only in appearance, but in character as well.

On the other hand, mark the men and boys who remain by their ships. Observe a crowd of two or three hundred of them in the evening after the day's work on the ship is over. No one could fail to be struck with their well-dressed, neat, and respectable appearance, equal to any body of men in the world who have hard work to do. Alas for many of the deserters! Nothing can injure and destroy a man's self-respect, and make him utterly reckless as to what becomes of him, more than suddenly to have it brought home to him that he has been duped, has believed a lie, has lost his wages, and is stranded amongst men in whose power he completely is, without even having left to him the choice of a ship in which he may wish to go, he being, to all intents and purposes, a slave.

In spite of the exasperating nature of things on too many British sailing - ships regarding food, pocket-money, tailor, etc., still, if the vast majority of those who now desert could be heard, they would say with no uncertain voice to all sailors coming to San Francisco, whether on 'hard' or 'easy' ships, Stay where you are; you are better off on board.'

A certain number of these deserting seamen are put on board the whaling vessels which go every year up North to catch whales, and arrive back in seven or eight months with very often little or no wages to take, as the men are paid according to the profits made. by the ship, and at times no profits are made. Other seamen go up to the great salmon fisheries, and help in catching salmon; but the great majority of them are kept to feed long-voyage ships wanting men, and most of those who go away for a few months, at the end of that time are usually to be found back in the city trying to 'ship home.'

The efforts made by boarding-masters and crimps to get men to desert their ships rise and fall like the tide. When ships are laid up' for months, and there is little prospect of their requiring crews for some time, then these gentlemen take a quiet spell and bask in the bright sunshine of California.

Presently busy times come again; ships load and sail rapidly one after another, and require the whole or part of a crew to take the places of deserters, or men who may happen to have been paid off.'

The need of crews for the ships is the boarding-masters' opportunity. Men have

to be found for them, and like giants refreshed with wine-after a period of repose, or easy 'work'-shipping-masters, boardingmasters, and all their runners, rise and advance to the fray, using their conspicuous talents to get men from 'inward bounders,' unsuspecting farmers, or others of an unwary disposition, into their nets, placing them shortly afterwards on the ships which require

crews.

Hardwork' requires rest, and the time lately spent in such they feel had not been wasted. Moreover, they know that good use has been made of the slack time. They have sat on Vallejo Street Wharf day after day, for long hours at a stretch, devising new plans for 'benefiting' the hundreds of sailors who are winging their way across the stormy ocean. They have stood frequently and patiently at Lime-Juice Corner' discussing state politics and the greatness of their country, and, moreover, have chewed enormous quantities of tobacco, and spat all the livelong day; and who, we may well ask, wishing to benefit mankind, could do more than that?

The result of this is that when the outwardbound ships are getting ready to sail, and