The parts of the different masts are connected and secured by means of _cross-trees_ and _caps_, which are named after the mast and part of the mast to which they belong. Thus we have the _fore-top_, the _fore-top-mast cross-trees_, the _main-top_, and _main-top-mast cross-trees_, etcetera. Observe, particularly, that the _fore-top_, _main-top_, and _mizzen-top_, are the platforms, or cross-trees, at the tops of the _lower_-masts, and not--as might well be supposed by landsmen--the extreme tops of these masts. The button-like objects on the summits of the masts are called the _trucks_; which, besides forming a sort of finish to them, are fitted with small _pulleys_, through which _signal-halyards_, or cords for hoisting the flags, are rove. In first-rate men-of-war the _tops_ are so large that a number of men can be stationed on them. Besides their other purposes, they are very frequently used as a place of punishment for the midshipmen, or "middies" (the boy officers), who are often sent there to air themselves, and profit, if they can, by calm reflection in exalted solitude. _Shrouds_ and _stays_ are the thick ropes that keep the masts firmly in position. They form part of what is termed the "standing gear" of a ship--in other words, the ropes that are fixtures--to distinguish them from the "running gear"--those movable ropes, by means of which the sails, boats, flags, etcetera, are hoisted. Nearly all the ropes of a ship are named after the mast, or yard, or sail with which they are connected. Thus we have the _main shrouds_, the _main-top-mast shrouds_, and the _main-topgallant shrouds_; the _main back-stay_, the _main-topgallant back-stay_, and so on--those of the other masts being similarly named, with the exception of the first word, which, of course, indicates the particular mast referred to. The shrouds rise from the _chains_, which are a series of blocks called "dead eyes," fixed to the sides of the ship. To these the shrouds are fixed, and also to the masts near the tops; they serve the purpose of preventing the masts from falling _sideways_. Backstays prevent them from falling _forward_, and _forestays_ prevent them from falling _backward_, or "aft." Besides this, shrouds have little cross ropes called _ratlines_ attached to them, by means of which rope-ladders the sailors ascend and descend the rigging to _furl_, that is, tie up, or _unfurl_, that is, to untie or shake out, the sails. Our cut represents a sailor-boy ascending the mizzen-top-mast shrouds. He grasps the _shrouds_, and stands on the _ratlines_. _Yards_ are the heavy wooden cross-poles or beams to which the sails are attached.