The present chapters are the outcome of some years of varied sea travel. They attempt to record the peculiarities of the principal types of sailing-craft in Europe and Asia which I have observed, or of which I have had experience, and in many cases have handled for myself; and to consider, to some extent, the causes which have been at work in the development of boats and the results attained under the conditions with which they have had to contend. This book can only pretend to be a contribution to the literature of the subject, — indeed it would be wellnigh impossible for any one man personally to know the coastlines of the earth in sufficient detail, and to study or handle all the numerous types of sailing-boats, developed with endless variety and ingenuity, in every locality, with sufficient intimacy to write on the whole subject. I can only hope here to indicate to those whose tastes are similar to my own the infinite interest of a study which Mast and Sail can afford him.