contradict or alter the effect of a contract, but may be given to show what is really meant. Where a charter-party stipulated that the ship is to load at Trinidad "a full and complete cargo of sugar, molasses, and (or) other lawful produce," evidence of a custom there to load sugar in hogsheads and molasses in puncheons, is admissable, and the custom is sustained in law, though the effect of loading such large packages is not to fill the ship entirely, but to leave much space, termed broken stowage. The owner has it in his power to charge a higher freight, or to introduce into the charterparty, a stipulation as to broken stowage, which would over-rule the custom. CUTHBERT v. CUMMING, Exchequer, 8th February, 1854.

1308. VALONIA requires from 15 to 20 cent. of ballast, according to build; sharp vessels may require more. A large carrying ship will ordinarily take her registered tonnage of Smyrna, but eight to ten cent. less of Grecian. Much depends on whether it is old or new, and according to the amount of pressing; the following may serve as a guide:—

Valonia is usually dried before shipment; some time must therefore necessarily intervene between the period of its being gathered and shipped. It is thrown in and pressed down with a heavy roller. It generates heat, and ships' beams have been burnt through by valonia stowed too green, as it then contains oil and is usually damp. The compression caused by rolling increases the heat, and for this reason shippers often object to its being rolled, or rolled much, when green. In a general cargo it should be kept at a distance from casks of wine, oil, or other liquids, or leakage will ensue. In loading at Smyrna all expenses are on the ship. Valonia, when rolled, costs, including lighterage, about 3s. P ton; when unrolled, about one-third less. Vessels carrying rolled valonia can take 10 p cent. more than their registered tonnage; when unrolled, about their register tonnage. Valonia can be rolled at the beginning of May. Coals are taken from alongside the ship free of expense; but discharging iron is

at the expense of the ship, and costs 1s. P ton for lighterage and labour. The chief export is from Smyrna; an inferior sort used in dyeing, comes from the Morea. It is shipped all the year round, the new about January and February; it is termed “ new for two months. When shipped green it weighs out at least 10 cent. less than when dry. The admission or non-admission of the word "rolled" in the charter-party will, therefore, make a very material difference in the freight. Valonia is much used by tanners. Tonnage. -Mediterranean ton 20 cwt. When wheat is freighted at 1s. P quarter, valonia in bulk is rated at 6s. 3d. P ton; in bags it pays 20 cent. more than in bulk.

1309. VAPOUR DAMAGE. Very frequent and serious loss. falls on consignee of the upper parts of cargoes, particularly in vessels laden partly with wheat, Indian corn, or maize, tobacco, oilcake, &c., by vapour damage arising from turpentine, or other scented goods, stowed in the same vessel. Perfumery, scented articles, drugs, fine oils, teas, coffee, farinas, cutlery, plate, millinery, and stationery, are liable to damage by coming in contact with or being placed near moist goods, damp bales, &c., as the steam they create penetrates every package near, and impregnates its contents with a dampness which greatly deteriorates and sometimes destroys their value. Quantities of cheese from America and Holland are constantly destroyed by being stowed near vapour goods in ill ventilated positions, where heat is produced. Several kinds of Mediterranean. fruit have the ora of maggots deposited in them before shipment; but these would probably never arrive at maturity if some mode of ship ventilation could be adopted. One importer suggests the possibility of supplying the hold, in damp weather, with air rarified. by passing through iron ventilators fitted close to the caboose. If the after hatchways were kept open when practicable, considerable damage might be prevented. Lucifer matches in cases are very likely to impregnate other goods with the odour peculiar to themselves. Heated decks often cause injury to cargo, which is erroneously attributed to heat generated in the goods. Some straw hats, crinolines, &c., were sent from London to Australia, when they were found on opening to be mildewed. A master who was called in to survey, declined to certify, because the boxes were not tinned: he contended that although the bill of lading said they were "lined," and the master had signed in ignorance, the owner was not liable. Another master certified, but when the facts came to the knowledge of the underwriters they refused to pay, and the application was not renewed. It is stated that in cases of this sort when the certificate

is unchallenged, the goods are sold by auction, (ostensibly for the benefit of the underwriters,) and are bought much below their value by the consignee or his agents, to the great loss of the underwriters; see bale goods and bricks.

1310. VEGETABLE WAX is largely produced in Japan, and is shipped chiefly from Yokohama and Nagasaki. Small quantities of Japanese wax are shipped occasionally at Shanghai. It is packed in boxes, which, with the matting, measure 2 feet 4 inches long, 18 inches broad, and 15 deep, and weigh net 160 lbs., tare 27 lbs., gross 187 lbs. They are stowed the same as boxes of soap from England; 50 cubic feet go to a ton. In 1863, the Excelsior, 462 tons register, Capt. HUNTER, stowed 5,000 boxes in the lower hold, and delivered them in good order in London. Vegetable wax is used for the manufacture of candles.

1311. VELLUM must be protected from dampness and from rats. A roll is five dozen or 60 skins.

1312. VENTILATION. It is of the highest importance to maintain the most full and free ventilation possible, for the preservation of the frame of the ship, whether of iron or wood, for the prevention of injury to the cargo, and for the maintenance of the health of the crew. No distinct instructions can be given which will apply to all cases requiring management, for although by ventilation the moisture of the atmosphere arising from emanations from the cargo may be avoided if the external atmosphere be dry, yet if it be saturated with moisture, as is the case during heavy fogs, mists, or rain, continuous admission or circulation of moist air through the hold may increase instead of abate the injury. The different methods of ventilation, and the special cases requiring attention to it, may be found noticed under the articles coal, grain, fermentation, fruit, spontaneous combustion, sugar, and vapour damage. If a cargo should be damaged through want of ventilation, the master could be sued for such damage, and he would have to prove that the want of ventilation could not be avoided-through the perils of the sea, &c.

1313. Since the introduction of the plan of erecting cabins above instead of below, the main deck, it has been found that cargoes have been more liable to damage from moisture than they were previously. This has arisen from the stoppage of the ventilation which was before unintentionally promoted by the fire in the cabins, and by the free passing to and fro of the inmates. By judicious management this might possibly be remedied, as stated in vapour damage, by a ventilation shaft placed around the chimney of the

caboose and of the cabin stoves, but any such contrivance should have the best attention to prevent possibility of accident from smoke conveying sparks having access to the hold. Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners recommend the plan of Dr. EDMUNDS, and require all ships chartered by them to have three spare wind cowls, with the necessary piping and materials for fixing them. A stove in the forecastle is not only advantageous to the crew, but preserves the ship from rot.

1314. Messrs. SILVER and MOORE have patented a new method for ventilating the 'tween decks of ships. Having made sundry experiments they discovered that all gases descend; to carry them upwards, therefore, a downward and upward draught was necessary. This they have managed by opening trap valves in all the decks below the spar deck. These apertures are protected by the insertion of a round iron grating. The valves under the decks spread the air or gases and help in the down draught, and they are made self-acting, so as to close in the event of water filling the compartments of the hold, and thus stop its passage above the lower deck. To carry off the gases and all foul air from the hold, pipes are let down through all the decks to within a few feet below the lower deck. The upper parts of these pipes are conically shaped, to create a current of air. The gases are carried up, naturally, by this updraught, and pass away above the bulwarks. By this simple contrivance the patentees maintain that they can keep the 'tween decks free from impure air and foul smells, for as the pure air passes down the hatchways it carries with it the gases to the hold, and thence by the up-pipes to the spar deck. The smell from bilge-water and offensive cargoes would be considerably lessened by this mode of ventilation. The principle is said to be adopted in France, in theatres and hospitals. Some masters who have had their ships burnt at sea, attribute their loss to having insufficient control ever the ventilators when numerous; their statement is that the ship has been lost through over ventilation.

1315. VERMICELLI. E.I.Co's. ton 16 cwt.

1316. VERMILION is a red colour formed of mercury and sulphur melted together and heated to redness. E.I.Co's. ton 20 cwt.; a bag 50 lbs. A Chinese box 50 catties; a Chinese box containing 90 papers, measures one cubic foot; 50 go to a ton of 50 cubic feet. In June, 1864, a quantity of assafoetida was sent on board a "general ship" loading at Bombay, which, but for the accidental bursting of one of the packages on the deck, might have led

to serious depreciation of the coffee and other edibles in the hold, by the time they were delivered in England. The cases, 150, were entered in the manifest and bills of lading as vermilion; they contained each about two maunds of hingda or hilda, the lowest class of assafoetida; it was packed in zinc soldered, enclosed in wood and covered with gunny cloth; but for the accident, there was nothing in the appearance of the cases to excite suspicion or to cause enquiry.

1317. VERMIN. The liability of owners for damage to cargo by vermin has been the subject of frequent litigation; some charterparties include the words "damage by vermin excepted." When damage does occur, masters are always careful to "protest" against vermin, as early as possibly after arrival.

1318. Of all vermin infesting ships, the most injurious is the rat, which arises from his great instinct, boldness, and natural qualifications. The inner portion of the four front teeth of rats is soft; the outer is composed of the strongest enamel; the continual growth of these teeth can only be checked by constant use. When one has been lost, the opposite tooth has been known to lengthen until it met the gum, which caused it to turn and ultimately to pass through the lip. It is this extraordinary growing property of the front teeth which, coupled with an unconquerable thirst, makes rats so formidable. They "eat" up under the waterways of the deck until within a wafer thickness of the surface, through which dew or rain can be sucked; and where there is leakage around the partners of a mast, they eat from below up to the deck, and also up through the covering boards alongside a stanchion or timber-head; unless protected by copper, they will cut their way to the scupper-holes, when they hear water running through them. They have been known to eat through the wooden filling piece in the space where a deck-light had been originally; as the hole was fully two inches diameter, and only about 15 inches from the waterway, and nearly abreast of the pumps, it may be imagined what a quantity of water must have found its way below into the 'tween decks, on the cargo, either when the ship's pumps were used, her decks washed, or she was in heavy weather with a body of water in the lee (starboard) waist. The hole being immediately under a water cask lashed to the spare spars in the side of the ship, was not discovered for some time and the ship was believed to be making water very badly on the port tack. Grain-laden ships have been put in great danger by holes through the pump-casing, which admit cargo and choke the pumps. The greatest peril, however, is when rats attack the sides between wind and water, in the vain effort to assuage their thirst.