ruinous nature of the occupation they are indeed showing an increasing predilection. The 19th April was debited with a brilliant run--390 nautical miles in the 24 hours, equal to 16-3/8 knots per hour!--and there was an exceeding clangour of tongues at meal-times, attributable, it would seem, to the "_Gallia_" having screwed her way through the ocean at such high speed. On such occasions as these the deck-frequenting passengers are in high spirits--they in some way unconsciously attribute to themselves a share in the performance. The Auditor drank his "Dry Monopole"--a good tap was discovered on board--with unusual relish; nor was he left to do so single-handed. Mr. Bridgeman developed a salad of great originality and power; the American Colonel, filled with thoughts too big for utterance, smiled on society at large. By degrees--short and cumulative--acquaintanceship was developing; familiarity took the place of reserve, and the game of "poker," inaugurated by some American experts, enlisted its votaries from expanding circles, and usurped large sections of the saloon tables, not only by night, but by day. It is a pity that it takes so long to bring out or up musical talent at sea, for it is often that sweet voices are heard warbling, deft fingers wake up the notes of the piano, and histrionic gifts are made manifest, in unexpected quarters, only a day or two before the end of the voyage; and just as society begins to enjoy them it is dispersed for ever as though it were an exploded shell! We had on board senators and judges, and men of eminence and women of culture, as we began to find out when we were about to lose them, and day after day jokes became more interchangeable and transferable, like the quaint conceits in "drinks," cocktails, and the like, which were sent round from table to table by the cognoscenti to their friends. One night there came to me, at dinner-time, a card with a drawing on it of a gentleman running at full speed from a suspicion of cavalry in the rear, and underneath were the words "Russell at Bull Run." There was just room enough on the card to enable me to draw in front of the figure so described a pair of legs and part of the body of another fugitive, and writing below the legs "The last man of the Federal army on that occasion," I returned it to my American friend, and the burst of laughter which ensued from the company at the table showed that the _réplique_ had been appreciated.