In the afternoon we took in some oxen and wine, and left Santa Cruz roads at seven in the evening.  From Santa Cruz to Porto Praya, St. Jago, the course is S. 26 deg.  W. 920 miles.

Monday, 20th.—­Having crossed the tropic of Cancer last evening.  Captain Owen granted the ship’s company permission to perform the customary ceremony of shaving and ducking all those who had not previously passed the tropic.  Whenever a ship is intended to enter the southern hemisphere, this marine exhibition is not performed until she reaches the equinoctial line.  Although this ceremony has been frequently described, I do not think it right to pass it over altogether unnoticed; I will therefore make a few general observations by way of comment on the practice.

A sea voyage is at the best a monotonous life, and a long voyage is only to be wished for by the few whose health it is calculated to improve; therefore, any little variety, that produces even but a temporary excitement, is desirable; and in this point of view only, is the old custom of shaving and ducking (which, by the bye, is a barbarous one) at all excusable.

When it is permitted to be practised, it should only be under certain regulations, as the consequences have frequently been very serious, for want of some salutary restrictions; in some cases the harmony that has existed amongst the society on board has been destroyed; actions at law, and duels, fevers from exposure daring the day’s amusement, have ensued:  it is, therefore, imperatively necessary that the law should take cognizance of this custom, and enforce some rigorous rules for the government of all commanders of vessels, whenever circumstances should permit the indulgence of this indefensible practice.  In the first place, the ship should be always put under snug sail; and that part of the vessel, in which the scene takes place, should be completely screened in, and no cruel or offensive practices permitted.  The Captain should always have the power of protecting his officers and passengers from being compelled to submit to the demands of old Neptune, by paying a small fine for the exemption:  say cabin passengers, five shillings, steerage passengers half-a-crown.  The sum total of these fines should be divided among those sailors who had previously crossed the line; and, if any of the sailors on board should be found to throw water, rope yarns dipped in tar, or in any other way insult, or annoy, persons who do not take a part in their proceedings, they should be punished as they would for a similar breach of discipline at any other time.  There is one example, which I feel at liberty to quote, and which was nearly the occasion of a court-martial on the senior lieutenant of one of H.M. ships that arrived in Simon’s Bay during my residence at the Cape of Good Hope.  The circumstance was as follows:—­The purser of the ship had shut himself up in his cabin, determined to resist any forcible attempt to make him undergo