THE MARCH OF THE CARAVAN l6l

'Masefield in his Bird of Dawning has drawn the picture of one of
these beautiful ships cpming up the Channel, her three months'
voyage done, and of die rough, true, simple men who manned
her. Galsworthy's Jolyon Forsyte, the elder, is the counterpart
of Captain Trewsbury: the City merchant of taste and flaw-
less integrity with his great house in South Kensington and
his fastidious ways, whose palate for tea was a byword.
A supreme expression of what that sea-borne trade meant to
England is to be found in the pages of Joseph Conrad's Nigger
of the Narcissus.

"The Narcissus entered the chops of the Channel, Under
white wings she skimmed low over the blue sea like a great
tired bird speeding to its nest. The clouds raced with her
mastheads; they rose astern enormous and white, soared to
the zenith, flew past, and failing, down the wide curve of the
sky seemed to dash headlong into the sea—the clouds swifter
than the ship, more free, but without a home. The coast to
welcome her stepped out-of space into the sunshine. , . .

"At night the headlands retreated, the bays advanced into
one unbroken line of gloom. The lights of the earth mingled
with the lights of heaven; and above the tossing lanterns of
a trawling fleef a great lighthouse shone steadily, such as an
enormous riding light burning above a vessel of fabulous
dimensions. Below its steady glow, the coast, stretching away
straight and black, resembling the high side of an indestructi-
ble craft riding motionless upon the immortal and unrest-
ing sea. The dark land lay alone in the midst of waters, like
a mighty ship bestarred with vigilant lights—a ship carrying
the burden of millions of lives—a ship freighted with dross
and with jewels, with gold and with steel. She towered up
immense and strong, guarding priceless traditions and
untold suffering, sheltering glorious memories and base
forgetfulness, ignoble virtues and splendid transgressions.
A great ship! For ages had the ocean battered in vain her
enduring sides; she was there when the world was vaster
and darker, when the sea was great and mysterious, and
ready to surrender the prize of fame to audacious men. A
ship mother of fleets and nations! The great flagship of the
race; stronger than the storms; and anchored in the open