ain
by daylight in the morning as vigorously as ever. I am inclined to
think that some people are physically so organized as to be insensible
to the difference between a pound of food and ten pounds, as others
are unconscious of the difference between wit and stupidity, sense and
nonsense; such, for instance, as the humorous group, who sit by the
companion-way, and keep themselves and every body around them in a
continued roar of laughter. It is good to be merry; but I must confess
it is not within the bounds of my capacity to discover a source of
merriment in such pranks of wit as these people enjoy. A young fellow
makes a face like an owl--every body roars laughing, the idea is so
exquisitely comical. Another pulls his comrades by the hair, and every
body shouts with uproarious merriment. One sly chap shoves another off
his seat and takes possession of it--a feat so humorous that the whole
crowd is convulsed. A bad orange, pitched across the deck, strikes an
elderly gentleman on the bald pate--well, I had to laugh at that
myself. By-and-by, a stout, florid young gentleman turns pale and
groans; three or four officious friends, with twinkling eyes, seize
him by the arms, and drag him over to the lee-scuppers, where he
manifests still more decided symptoms of sea-sickness. His friends
hold him, rub him, chafe him, and pat him on the back; one offers him
a meerschaum pipe to smoke; another, a bunch of cigars; a third, a
piece of fat meat; while a fourth tempts him with a bottle of some
wine, all of which is uncommon fun to every body but the unfortunate
victim. Thus the time passes away pleasantly enough, after all, taking
into view the variety of incidents and scenes which constantly occupy
the attention of a looker-on. I had taken a deck-passage for
cheapness, and made out to get through the night by bundling myself up
on a pile of baggage, and catching a few cat-naps whenever the noise
created by these lively young gentlemen would permit of such a feat.

By seven o'clock in the morning we were steering into the harbor of
Revel.

CHAPTER XXI.

REVEL AND HELSINGFORS.

Few cities within the limits of the Russian dominions possess greater
historic interest than Revel. Although its commerce is limited to a
few annual shipments of hemp, flax, and tallow, produced in the
province of Esthonia, and the importation of such articles of domestic
consumption as the peasants require, it occupies a prominent position
a