China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold […].

The brief segments trying to generate thriller-type suspense are disposably perfunctory.

And this is one of the signs by which you can tell a man-of-war from a merchantman, for in war-ships the catch ratline is on the aftermost shroud instead of on the foremost. In a man-of-war, too, the topgallant-rigging is never rattled down, as a Jacob's ladder leads from the topgallantmast-head down to the crosstrees; but this Jacob's ladder arrangement is found in many clippers.

The path of this great empire, through its arch of progress, synchronized with that of Christianity.