The old term in existence before the more ambitious title of yacht was _pleasure boat_. This was applied to the decked sailing boats we now call yachts, and is perpetuated in the sign of the Pleasure-boat Inn, Hickling. A favourite type, of which but few examples exist, was the lateener, first, I believe, consisting of two lateen-shaped sails, but afterwards of a lateen-shaped foresail and a gaff-mizen. The foresail was set upon a short mast right in the bows and raking well forward, and the yard was often twice the length of the vessel. Such a rig was very close-winded, and handy enough to handle once the sail was up; but the long yard was a great nuisance in raising and lowering the sail, and the reefing had to be done along the long yard instead of the short boom. The boats also were dangerous in running before the wind, being apt to run under head first. This may have been partly owing to the short and full bow which was deemed necessary to support the weight of the mast and sail, and which at high speed created a great hollow in the water. Possibly a lateen-rigged, sharper-bowed boat would even now be found to be a very fast and handy type for our rivers. The balance lug so much in vogue is but a lateen sail with the fore-angle cut off. I only know of two lateeners of late on our waters--the 'Ariel' of Beccles, a boat of about 10 tons, and the 'Black Maria' of Barton Broad. The owner of the latter died recently, and it is possible the yacht is not now in commission; but she looked picturesque threading the narrow and sinuous reaches of the Ant on her way to and from Barton Broad. [Illustration: River Waveney craft.] A light-displacement boat is a necessity upon Norfolk waters. It is not only that the depth is small and that the draught of a boat should not exceed 4 ft. 6 in. if she is to get about comfortably, but the water displaced by her movement has but little room to disperse in the narrower channels. It is sufficient to watch the light-displacement sailing wherry going fast through the water with scarcely a ripple, and making but slight difference in the level of the water at the grassy margins, and then to see a heavy-displacement steam wherry going not so fast, yet piling up the water in front of her, filling and emptying the dykes and runlets as she passes, to understand that the one thing essential for speed is light displacement. Again, in a heavy-displacement craft of my own which is sometimes brought upon the rivers, whenever the waterway is constricted she moves slowly and the river craft gain upon her. When the channel suddenly broadens she seems to leap forward and away in a striking manner.