Page:The history of yachting.djvu/33

 Rh stores; and judging from the fact also, that the galley was "laden with the most magnificent offerings and presents of all kinds," it is reasonable to suppose that this craft must have been of a considerable tonnage.

The wanton splendor of Cleopatra's life has inspired poets, painters, and historians, who have perpetuated her memory through nineteen centuries of time and change; so that to-day her fame is as fresh and radiant as the morning sunbeam that rests upon the gray pyramids, obelisks, and temples of her native land.

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

Her infinite variety."

.......

"I died a queen, the Roman soldier found

Me lying dead, my crown about my brows,

A name forever! lying robed and crowned

Worthy a Roman spouse."

Of other ancient vessels we have some knowledge, though not as much as could be wished. The Haw Ting, or flower-boats of the Chinese, with their rich ornamental carvings and silken draperies of vermilion and gold, sweet with the perfume of sandal-wood; the Greek and Roman galleys, which one historian, not over-gallant, compares to women—equally greedy of ornament; the galley race for royal prizes between the Dolphin, Centaur, and Chimæra, immortalized by Virgil—all these are of interest. Of the Venetian galleys, their sails embroidered in silver and gold, of the stately galleons of Portugal and Spain, and their