The distinctive features of the brig are, that it has _two_ masts, both of which are _square-rigged_. It is a particularly serviceable species of craft, and, when of large size, is much used in foreign trade. The advantage of the square-rig over the fore-and-aft rig is, that the sails, being smaller and more numerous, are more easily managed, and require fewer men or "hands" to work them. Thus, as we increase the size of our vessel, the more necessity is there that it should be square-rigged. The huge main-sail of the sloop and schooner could not be applied to large vessels; so that when men came to construct ships of several hundred tons burden, they were compelled to increase the _number_ of masts and sails, and diminish the size of them; hence, probably, brigs were devised _after_ schooners. The main-mast of a brig is the aft one. The sails are named after the masts to which they are fastened,--namely, the _main-sail_; above that the _main-top-sail_; above that the _main-top-gallant-sail_; and sometimes a very small sail, named the _royal_, is spread above all. Behind the main-sail there is a small fore-and-aft sail similar to the main-sail of a schooner, which is called the _boom-main-sail_. On the fore-mast is a similar sail, which is called the _try-sail_. Attached to the respective yards of square-rigged ships there are smaller poles or arms, which can be pushed out at pleasure, and the yard lengthened, in order to receive an additional little sailor wing on each side. These wings are called _studding-sails_ or _stun-sails_, and are used only when the wind is fair and light. They are named after the sails to which they are fastened; thus there are the _main-stun-sails_, the _main-top-stun-sails_, and the _main-top-gallant-stun-sails_, etcetera. The fore-mast of a brig is smaller than the main-mast. It carries a _fore-sail_, _fore-top-sail_, _fore-top-gallant-sail_, and _fore-royal_. Between it and the bowsprit are the _fore-stay-sail_, _jib_, and _flying-jib_. The three last sails are nearly similar in _all_ vessels. All the yards, etcetera, are hoisted and shifted, and held in their position, by a complicated arrangement of cordage, which in the mass is called the running-rigging, in contradistinction to the standing-rigging, which, as we have said, is _fixed_, and keeps the masts, etcetera, immovably in position. Yet every rope, in what seems to a landsman's eye a bewildering mass of confusion, has its distinctive name and specific purpose. Brigs and schooners, being light and handy craft, are generally used by pirates and smugglers in the prosecution of their lawless pursuits, and many a deed of bloodshed and horror has been done on board such craft by those miscreants. THE BRIGANTINE.