as there could not have been space for so many cabins, I had concluded that these were ports for oars to be used in time of battle, but on further consideration I saw that they represented the ends of the beams supporting the deck.

The bulwarks were raised to a height of some two feet, and the thwarts of the rowers ran up to them on both the port and starboard sides, leaving an open space in the centre for the long-boat, bales of merchandise, soldiers, slaves, and additional passengers.* A double set of steering-oars and a single mast completed the equipment.  The latter, which rose to a height of some twenty-six feet, was placed amidships, and was held in an upright position by stays.  The masthead was surmounted by two arrangements which answered respectively to the top ["gabie”] and calcet of the masts of a galley.** There were no shrouds on each side from the masthead to the rail, but, in place of them, two stays ran respectively to the bow and stern.  The single square-sail was extended between two yards some sixty to seventy feet long, and each made of two pieces spliced together at the centre.  The upper yard was straight, while the lower curved upward at the ends.  The yard was hoisted and lowered by two halyards, which were made fast aft at the feet of the steersmen.  The yard was kept in its place by two lifts which came down from the masthead, and were attached respectively about eight feet from the end of each yard-arm.  When the yard was hauled up it was further supported by six auxiliary lifts, three being attached to each yard-arm.  The lower yard, made fast to the mast by a figure-of-eight knot, was secured by sixteen lifts, which, like those of the upper yard, worked through the “calcet.”

* One of the bas-reliefs exhibits a long-boat in the water at the time the fleet was at anchor at Puanit.  As we do not find any vessel towing one after her, we naturally conclude that the boat must have been stowed on board.

** The “gabie” was a species of top where a sailor was placed on the look-out.  The “calcet” is, properly speaking, a square block of wood containing the sheaves on which the halyards travelled.  The Egyptian apparatus had no sheaves, and answers to the “calcet” on the masts of a galley only in its serving the same purpose.

The crew comprised thirty rowers, fifteen on each side, four top-men, two steersmen, a pilot at the bow, who signalled to the men at the helm the course to steer, a captain and a governor of the slaves, who formed, together with ten soldiers, a total of some fifty men.* In time of battle, as the rowers would be exposed to the missiles of the enemy, the bulwarks were further heightened by a mantlet, behind which the oars could be freely moved, while the bodies of the men were fully protected, their heads alone being visible above it.  The soldiers were stationed as follows:  two of them took their places on the forecastle, a third was perched on the masthead in a sort of cage improvised on the bars forming the top, while the remainder were posted on the deck and poop, from which positions and while waiting for the order to board they could pour a continuous volley of arrows on the archers and sailors of the enemy.**