i^?d^ S ^3 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE WASON CHINESE COLLECTION Date Due IIDDADViiM ^F^ I.IDl\ r\i\» nil lElA »m» *" ^^spp^w piliff^'-' Cornell University Library DS 709.S63 To China and back: being ajdiarY kept, o 3 1924 023 226 396 B Cornell University B Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023226396 S<>3 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE WASON CHINESE COLLECTION TO CHINA AM) BACK: A DIAET KEPT, OUT AND HOME, ALBEET SMITH. PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND TO BE HAD OF MESSRS. CHAPMAS & HALL, 193, PIOCADILLYi AT THE EGYPTIAN HALL; OV ALL BOOKSELLEKS, AND AT ALL EAILWAT aTATIOffS. Price ®ne »1,illins. ^, |.^^| .^ • ^ WWiVI KJ ' I Y v^ '^L-ji-^a, PREFACE. This little book is really what it is called — " A Diary kept Out and Home," and nothing more : such parts only being omitted as were of a private or domestic nature. It is intended as a companion to my Lecture, into the two hours of which I have so much to condense, that I can scarcely keep the thread of the voyage and incidents satisfactorily together ; and I hope it will ■agreeably fill up these " solutions of continuity." When my audience recollect that I nearly saw the London season of 1858 to its close, and then went to China and back^ returning, as I promised them, in July, " with the Cattle-Show and Pantomimes," after a voyage of twenty thousand miles, they must allow that a superficial view only of this strange country could be attempted. The whole journey was such a spasm, that I forgive those who doubted the fact of my having undertaken it. An esteemed friend, in the Peninsular and Oriental Company, told me he had been asked, more than once, if I really had gone ; or whether I had hidden myself in the Alps, and there compiled my entertainment from the books and hints of other travellers ! I hope some of my old friends at Hong Kong and Canton, who so puzzled themselves about ", what I could possibly find interesting out there, as I did not care about trade," will see that to a stranger there are yet a few points to interest, beyond opium, silk, tea, markets, exchange, and gunny-bags. The pure business mind is the same everywhere — whether in the Com- mercial Eoom of the Yorkshire inn, or Compradorial Godown of the tropics. The odd things connected with Buddhist wor- ship possessed greater attraction for me than the other absorbing religion of folks living ia China — the Almighty Dollar. A 2 SEould my readers wisli to know more about many of tEe- points lightly touched on in this brocliure, I hope Mr. Wingrove Cooke will not be offended when I state that his charming work on China, is to my thinking, the first practically graphic book that has been published on this most interesting, portion of the world. E'OBTH Enb Lodge, Walham Green, S.W., March, 1859 TO CHINA AND BACK Saturday, July 17, 1858. — This morning, about half-past five, th« Peninsular and Oriental Company's fine steam-ship, Pera, Captain Jamieson, entered the harbour of Alexandria, piloted in by an Arab, grubbily resplendent with the dirty finery that characterises the Eastern races generally. Immediately a crowd of swarthy beings still dirtier swarmed up the sides and about the deck and lower rigging, climbing, squabbling, and jabbering like so many apes ; and the business of landing the Overland Mail commenced. These feUows were dressed in seedy blue trousers, tight at the ancles — ^peg-top fasliion — and very old blue blouse-looking tunics, tied round the waist with a filthy remnant of a shawl. They also wore generally a washed-out, perspirationed, sun- blanched fez, and were mostly one-eyed. A Prancer on board termed them " picturesque creatures." She was not picturesque herself, for she must have been five-and-forty, yet wore one of those charming hats which should only belong to youth and beauty. But she was > lively — ^the dear old kitten — and had pretty little ways,' and was sometimes particular, because she was " without a chaperon." About seven the Pacha's sister embai-ked in a large white steamer, for a visit to Constantinople, amidst the firing of guns from all the Egyptian frigates in the harbour. Except for this purpose, the Pacha's navy is useless. The noise and smoke gave one a very good idea of what it must be to be in action. The mails and luggage were soon disembarked by the Arabs, and then we all went from the pier, on a hot sandy unfinished road, to the railway ; having enough to do to keep our hand-baggage from being seized by the boys, hold our umbrellas over our heads, and drive the flies from the corners- of our «yes, where they love to nestle. The tr^in for Cairo_ started at nine. Men were selling cakes and lemonade, as well as white coverings for the hats, and little fans of matting to blow away the. files with. The carriages were all in the English style, with London makers' names. The view from the railway is very monotonous. It is interesting just as you leave Alexandria to look at its domes and minarets, with Pompe/s Pillar on the hill, and the gardens of dates, plantains, and prickly pears; but all this quickly merges into a tawny dried-up desert, with distant glimpses of the villas on the Mahmoudieh canal, which you soon leave on the left. A shed of board and matting is passed with the sign of " Wood's Eailway Tavern." For nearly the whole distance a bridle road runs parallel with the line, which is a sidgle , one, and separated from it by a ditch. Along this roa,d many men passed on donkeys, sitting well back behind; some, also, were on camels, jand S TO CHINA AND BACK, some on magnificent high-bred horses. About one we crossed the Nile in an inconvenient little steamer. The luggage went across a pile bridge, but passengers have not passed it since the accident to the young Pacha a year ago, when he was pushed from it, in his carriage,, into the Nile, and there drowned. On the other side of this ferry was the Eefreshment Station, for which we had received a ticket on paying our fares. It was a big barn-looking place, with a doubtful cuisine. The chief dish, as indeed it was all along the desert to Suez, was Irish stew — a secret compound containing bones, onions, and flies, with shreds of unknown animal matter. But there was good pale ale, brandy, soda-water, and cham- pagne ; and, considering all things, at fair prices. Outside I bought a very large melon, nearly as big as my head, for twopence. It was at this place we first heard the terrible details of the Djedda massacre ; and an Egyptian officer, who spoke French, told us that the Bedouins were coming up the Eed Sea, in forty boats, to take Suez, and that it was also their intention to plunder the mail and murder the passengers, in consequence of which the Pacha had dis- patched some soldiers to Suez as a guard. This was unpleasant news, and we all naturally felt rather anxious. We reached Cairo at five, and the usual scramble to get to Shep- heard's Hotel before the rest commenced. I was one of the first, and secured a large airy room looking over the garden, containing the tree under which General Kleber was assassinated at the revolt of Oairo. I had some little talk about the bad news with Mr. Roberts, who manages the house in Shepheard's absence. He feared there was certainly some truth in what we had heard; but he had not said any- thing about it for fear of alarming the passengers. I went, after* dinner, with Mr. Badger, the resident clergyman at Aden, to call on Mr. Ayrton, who is in the confidence of the Pacha, and lives here quite in Egyptian style. He went over all the details of the massacre, from the depositions; and the report of the troubled state of the coasts of the Eed Sea did not improve our misgivings. At eight o'clock the homeward-bound mail came in from China and India, with the news of poor Dr. TurnbuU's murder, in that affair of the White Cloud Mountains, off Canton. The passengers had heard what we had, at Suez, but found soldiers there, and the town tranquil. I had little time for a stroll about Cairo, which I much regretted, for it has always been to me my greatest travelling treat; I consider it the most charmingly picturesque city I have ever visited — a lively moving embodiment of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments." But there ^till appeared to be the same people in the same coffee-houses, listening with the same attention to the same hunchbacks telling the same stories ; and the same confusion of camels, donkeys, slaves, processions, horsemen, and veiled women in its narrow thoroughfares, as delighted me so much ten years ago. And tourists can now " do" Cairo and the Pyrainids, out and home, in under three weeks. Sunday, l&h. — The thermometer stood all night in my bedroom at 89°, and the heat was so great, with all the windows open, that I scarcely slept at all. They called me at three, when it was nearly dark, and as nobody else stirred for another half-hour, I had but a dull time uf it, peering out of the window as the day opened over the city. TO CHINA AND BACK. 7 Heavy drops of dew kept falling from Kleber's tree, and tumbling from leaf to leaf till they reached the ground; and, with a combined noise of dogs fighting, cocks crowing, and crows cawing, merging into the cries and squabbles of the people, Cairo gradually woke into Ufe. We started, in omnibuses, at half-past four, having really a difBiculty in driving clear of the multitudes of people lying about the roads still asleep. When we got to the railway nobody was up, or in command, so we took possession of the carriages ourselves, and commenced a grand general British grumble, which lasted until half-past six, when we really did start. At eight o'clock the train shunted into a siding, and kept us there for an hour and a half, waiting for another train to pass, which was telegraphed from Suez. There was a little solitary tel^raphic office here,^ with a lonely clerk, and small bivouac of Bedouins on the other side the rail. He came to beg an English news- paper — "one ever so old wdUld do !" I never had imagined so dismal a position — a telegraph clerk, with nothing to do, in the middle of a desert ! We got half baked in the train, and very tired of waiting; but a dozen young surgeons, bound for India, started a game which soon became popular. They got a skeleton of a camel, and set it up on its haunches, putting a small sum of money on the skull, and thus forming a cock-shy. It was past two in the afternoon when we got to the end of the railway, and we were then about sixteen miles from Suez. Here was another large refreshment barrack, with more nasty things to repress one's appetite; and the flies were worse than ever. We now started in the vans, each with two horses — leaders — and two mules. The animals were only half-broken, and sometimes the leaders would turn right round and look in at the windows. There was no road but that which the dead camels marked; andwe bumped and jolted over the stones — galloping, jibbing, and stopping — melted with the heat, gasping with thirst, powdered with dust worse than on a return from the Derby, and still stormed by the flies beyond all endurance. We changed horses three times, at solitary round white glaring ovens; and were not sorry when we got to Moses' Well to find our Egyptian cavalry escort waiting for us. At the same time we overtook the mail, whidi had started while we were at dinner, on, I should think, a hundred camels. These last three miles into Suez were enjoyable enough. The road was more level : we felt secure ; and the bright Oriental appearance of our caravan was as picturesque ' as tawdry dirt could make it. On arriving at Suez, a miserable little Egyptian steamer took us at once from the wharf to the Bentinek, lying nearly three miles ofij outside the sand-spits, which M. de Lesseps says he can get rid of. Getting on board the Bervtinck, we at once found we were " on the other side" — as the tracks are called befWeen Suez and China. There were heavy punkahs swinging over the tables. The candles had glass shades to them ; strange insects were lying drowned in the oil of the cabin lamps; and the crew were composed of Lascars, Sepoys, Cin- galese, Malays^ "Simale-boys," "Seedy-boys," Ethiopians (firemen), and Chinese. The latter were, out and away, the cleanest and most indus- trious. The row these creatures made, when the mails and baggage were being embarked — the native swearing, chattering, fighting, 8 TO CHINA AND BACK, and jabbering — was awful, and prevented anything like sleep all night. Monday, \^ih. — The terrible heat of the Bed Sea is making itself felt. I began to register it, from a little thermometer in my cabin, which was forward, and consequently a little cooler than the aft- saloons. This morning at ten it is 91°. * Went to sleep after break- fast on the saloon skylight, and slept till one P.M,, during which time wc had started. Found a great difference in the dinners on this side. The poultry was so ludicrously small and thin, that we called the chickens "clippers," from their sharp bows; the. mutton, too, was tough and poor; the eggs about the size of pigeons' ; and the curry, to speak mildly, suspicious. I got very tired of this constantly-recuning, scrap-concealing mess. I have a horrid recollection of having one day detected the same peculiarly-shaped bone on the occasion of its third appearance. The claret and the' madeira — also the pale ale — were excellent, and d, discretion. The port was what port might be expected to be, when kept on an eternal joggle. The soda-water from Calcutta was tepid and execrable, and now and then of a light straw-coloui*. I must add, there was an extreme liberality in the supply of everything ; but the things were bad in themselves. The punkahs were at work all dinner time, and blew the dishes cold, almost as soon as they were on the table. ' The shores of the Eed Sea are irregular burnt-up tawny hills, without a trace of animal or vegetable life. The passengers and crew slept about the two decks all day long; the natives, especially, lay about the main deck in all directions, so that it took some care to avoid treading on them, when you went to your cabin. They had all a most marvellous property of sitting on their haunches, like monkeys, to work; and they pared potatoes, encircling their legs with their hands, in a very odd fashion. Bored to bed at 9.30. Tuesday, 20th (91°). — ^Found out that the fore-part of the boat was four or five degrees cooler than the quarter deek. The crew were all busy. The Chinese carpenter held a bit of wood he was planing by his foot, as a parrot would do. They brought out the Brahmin cows to be washed : and then sluiced, and scraped, and swabbed the decks, according to the uncomfortable wont of sailors, until there was not a dry place left to sit upon. The monotony of a sea voyage is awful ; almost as bad as being shut up with a fool in a yacht, or yatch, or however it is spelt, for I never recollect, so I'll call it a " yot." Once I knew a fool who kept a " yot," not because he liked it, for it made him sick, but because it was "the sort of thing to do." I give my honour that, passing a day with him, the only excitement (as I do not smoke, and could not drink unceasingly from after breakfast until bed- time), was lowering a boat, getting four men into it, and then pulling off to the town for some mutton-chops! At night we slept in long boxes with the fronts knocked out, put on shelves. And there were noble hotels, within a good stone's throw, wherein we might have dined and slept like kings. But that was not the thing to do. The French gazogitm in the Peninsular and Oriental boats would be * The degree of heat is taken aocovding to Fahrenheit's scale. It will be mentioned all along the Red Sea. It is understood that this is taken in the shade of the eabjn in the morning, and it will tie indicated thus : (91°). TO CHINA AND BACK. 9 a great success; for then people would only take as much serated water as they wanted, instead of wasting an entire bottle. Wednesckty, 21si (92°). — On looking out of my port this morning, about five o'clock, I saw the sun rising blood red, over the Asiatic coast, and the sea perfectly calm, like an expanse of blue glass. I was literally streaming with perspiration, and my pUlow was quite wet from my forehead. All the passengers complaining more or less — very seedy, and unable to eat. Dozed through the greater part of the day. Thursday, 22nd (93°). — Heat increasing, and did not sleep more than a quarter of an hour at a time all night long. The people are lying about perfectly helpless, and gasping like iish on the floor of a punt. We had despatches for H.M.S. Cyclops, and we an-ived off Djedda, the seat of the late Christian masaaci;e, about 10 a.m. The town appeared to run up from the sea, like a very little Algiers. Some Arab feluccas were at anchor, off the port, with twenty large sailing ships and one paddle-steamer, for bringing the pilgrims back from Mecca, all with Turkish and Egyptian flags. The armoury of the Ben- tinck had been surveyed in the morning. It was not a brilliant one. The swords had edges as blunt as silver dessert-knives, and one pistol had a lock, the hammer of which was cocked back with a bit of string which had to be cut before it went off. Two cannon were run out, and there appeared to be a difference of opinion as to how they ought to be loaded. Presently a little sailing boat, with two men in it, put off from Djedda, and came towards us. One man got on board and said he was the pilot. The Eev. Mr. Badger, of Aden, who speaks the Arab dialects fluently, took him into the captain's cabin, and interro- gated him. He said that the Cyclops had not returned yet, that no Bedouin boats had left Djedda, and that the place was now tranquil. And indeed well it might be, for they had murdered every Christian. This man was in a dreadful fright all the time he was on board; but we bought a fish of him, and gave him a bottle of rum and some beef; and we parted with a hundred salaams. As we left, the Mohammedan ships fired off their guns, it being a religious festival day: we fired ours; and so ended what we called " The Battle of Djedda.'' " Ben- tinck Square" is where the officers of the ship live on the lower deck, breathing from a windsail. Mr. Smith, the first officer, had a piano in his cabin, so we got up a small concert to-night, and drank much "soda and sherry." The cabins were fitted up according to their tastes. One officer had daguerrotypes of all his family, and his little country home in Devonshire; another inclined to pretty girls' heads; And another to religious works only. It was so hot that nearly every- body slept' on deck to-night. I got the top of the saloon skylight, and in the night nearly tumbled down through the hole of the windsail. Mr. Purves, of Singapore, lent me a long pad, upon which I slept, on and off, until four, when the old nuisance of washing the decks chivied us all away. Friday, 2Zrd (93°). — There was a brisk wind this morning, which quite blew about my things in the cabin, but it appeared doubly hot after, and the butcher was struck by the sun. Had a lesson on the sextant, and was told at 11 a.m. that we were then going under the sun, and would soon leave him to the north. The heat increased ter- ribly with the day, neveitbeless. We lost a good deal of time by 10 TO CHINA AND BACK. sounding what was thought to be a shoal, but which turned out to be without any fathomable bottom. Nobodjr ate much dinner, but drank everythingthey could get,although the liquidswereallaswarm as the air. Saturday, 24th (97°). — Our hottest day :* it broke warm and damp with a cloudy sky. I felt my wet forehead in the night, as if it were covered with minute grains, and on getting up found the " prickly heat " full out all over me, like incipient measles. Everybody said it was very healthy, and the best thing that could happen, but I hated it ; it was something between pins and needles, and nettlerash. Went down to Bentinck-square to see Mr. Smith, who was not well ; and had my first lesson in " Pigeon English " from the Chinese carpenter. To bed on the skylight, as usual, but the heat was terrific. I could not sleep, but sat upright, half stupified, not knowing what to do. About three in the morning a sudden and very violent storm of rain came on, which lasted ten minutes, but it did not clear the hot air much, only turning it into hot vapour. /Sunday, 25th (89°). — Out of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and experienced at once a difference for the better in the temperature^ At 9 we sighted Aden, and arrived there early in the afternoon, having attended church in the saloon, where Mr. Badger preached the most excellent and practical sermon I ever heard. Not a soul was bored by it. Went on board the Azov, which was to tak« some of our pas- sengers down to the Mauritius and then to shore, in a boat rowed by nearly naked men, who had daubed their heads with red clay. Aden has been compared by wicked men, to " H— — with the fire gone out." It is a glowing calcined succession of peaks and plains without the slightest vegetation. Rode to the cantonments and town, which are about three miles from the port. The town has the appearance of being built in the ci-ater of an extinct volcano. There are long one- storied rows of shops, kept by Parsees — such as Oursedjee Dirtyjee Jabberjehoy, and Lalleballoo Tol Lol — with verandahs in front, and attempts to make little india-rubber plants grow. Down by the shore had formerly been an hotel, kept also by Parsees, but it was now done up— they said so many people ran away without paying them, but by the look of it, it was evidently a bad thing. On board the Azov again, to wish our old fellow-ti-avellers God speed, and then to the Bentinch. Monday, 2&h (85°). — Went on shore with Captain Curling, to breakfast with Mr. Thomas, the P. and O. agent at Aden, who lives on the top of a hill, in a nice bungalow, all made of cane and matting — and something between a basket and a bird-cage. Nothing could exceed the hospitality of our kind host and hostess, and the change from the steamer was most agreeable. After breakfast, Mr. Thomas lent us his buggy, in which Captain Curling and I set off on an exploring expedition. Everybody going on shore at Aden should pay a visit to the tanks. There is no water here, and many ages ago huge excavations were made, near the town, to collect the rain water from th« mountains — when it rains : about once in three years. They are now repairing and closing up these old tanks with cement in the clefts, as well as build- * In the steamer that followed us with the next mail, a lady died &om the heat at this part of the Red Sea, offDjebel Tor. ' TO CHINA AND BACK'. 11 ing an extraordinary arrangement of bridges, platforms, walls, and channels to direct the courses of the water. The poor devils at work carried the stones on the top of their heads, and had fellows to keep them to it with whips. The ground was so intensely hot, that we could not stand long in one place. I question whether these tanks will eventually answer, as the cement was made with sea-water, and appeared to hold but badly. Mr. Thomas has, however, set up a con- densing apparatus near the port, which will yield an unlimited supply of water. Cool drinks awaited our return to the bunga- low, and I saw the most extraordinary parrot to talk that I ever conceived possible. He spoke English and Hindostanee, and when the purser of the Bentinch, Mr. Hatchet, came in, he said, "That boy will be the death of me ; he is so jolly green !" and then went off into fits of laughter. We had an excellent little roast pig for dinner. In the evening I had another drive, with Mr. Thomas ; and then on board to sign the " coal warrants," which means to have a part- ing drink. Just as we were leaving, at 7 VM.., our hawser broke, and the ship swung round, so we had to wait until the next tide. Tuesday, 2,7th (87°). — At 3 a.m. they began to try and get the Bentinek off, with no end of bawling and countermanding, and she was floating at daybreak. Previously the night had been very lovely, with a fiill moon: *' All niglat the sp?inter'd cra;^s that wall'd tlio dell. With spires of silver shone." The wind rose as we got out, and the boat began to labour, which was rather a good thing, as it kept some of the incessant talkers quiet, and some more did not show at dinner. Obliged to wade through the coal water that floated the main deck to my cabin, whei-e I slept, as the ship was altogether in a dirty mess. Although the port was wide open, and the wind blowing in, I was almost suffocated. Wednesday, 'i&ih (96°). — Another regular Eed Sea " blazer,'' and the " prickly heat" running riot and stinging me almost beyond endurance ; otherwise in good condition. The Bentinek labouring heavily in the S.W. monsoon. I was writing in the saloon about 1.30 p.m., when I heard a loud bang, accompanied by a shock which sent everything off the table. My first impression was that the ship had struck on a rock. Every- body rushed on deck, the stewardess crying out, "My God, she's gone !" I followed them, and found the deck enveloped in steam, which was pouring up from all the hatchways, and all the people running about and screaming. Mrs. H. and Miss L. came to me carrying the children, in a terrible way, begging 1 would tell them what was the matter. We all expected we were going down. After a little whUe, Mr. Hope — our able and intelligent engineer (not at all, it must be understood, resembling my old friend Edwards, of the Austrian Lloyd's)— went down with one or two of his " subs," and the anxiety was very great. We soon heard that one of the cylinders of the engine had burst, from the lower beam giving way. A consultation was held as to what must be done. Some said we must go back to Aden and wait for the next mail, which would have been very cheer- ful; others that we must proceed under sail, and that the old Bentinek would not do above three knots an hour, which would make a 12 TO CHINA AND BACK. month to Ceylon. At last, Mr. Hope having ordered and superin- tended a great deal of timbering up and unscrewing, told me -we could perhaps go on with one engine. At dinner we all sat down pretty- quiet and cross, but just before dessert we were rejoiced to feel the paddles vibrate again. It had been so stifling in the cabin last night that I took up my old £|uarters on the skylight, and Mr. Catton, a young surgeon going to India, occupied the bench under me. About midnight the Beniinck gave a lurch, and shot us both off— bedding and all — down upon the deck; so I took the hint and went below. I never passed such a wretched night. The sea rose tremendously, and I was shaken from one side of my berth to the other, until I got actually sore; with -a constant fear of falling off, and my sheet getting all into a ruck, and leaving only the horsehair for me to "lie upon, which was worse than the prickly heat. I did not sleep a wink, for, added to this, the sea made a great noise, and the bulkheads were creaking and separating all round the cabin. "She did worrick dreadful," as the quarter- master said next day; "and I wouldn't a been on the sponsons for nothink." Towards morning I got into another berth, where I was at right angles to the roll of the boat, and here I slept a little, but very .little, as the Jackos (so we called the native crew) began all the noise and chattering again. Thwsday, 9Qtk (86°). — Got up at seven, very worn and tired, and dressing, in the rolling of the ship, with great difficulty. Scarcely anybody on deck — the wind and the sea keeping it up between them, and everything wet and miserable. The "fiddles" (frames of wood tied to the table, to keep things in their places) were used at break- fast, and the crockery kept leaping about and smashing in a very uncomfortable manner. I got up to the stern of the saloon after breakfast, but it was too rough to write, and I was too tired to read, and not tired enough to go to sleep, so I rolled about and half dozed, and was very blinky and stupid ; but it got certainly much cooler, for we had no awning, and the sky was one uniform grey. Did not care much for dinner, and the things were not very .appetizing in themselves. The wind and sea fell as we got under the lee of Socotra, and then the passengers' spirits rose in proportion. Some of them played vingt-un, with nuts for counters ; and, of course, the cadets going out, who could least afford it, lost. These poor boys should not bo allowed to play. The instant I heard one especial '" party" cry " double all round," I knew they were done. Our usual little knot together for grog at "one bell first watch" (which means half-past eight — much more sensible), including Captain Maguire, of 'H.M.S. Sanspareil i^ Captain Clark, of the Mysore Commission; young Elliott, going outtojoin; and Mr. Fisher, in Jardine's house, at Hong Kong. Friday, ZOth (78°).— A rolling stormy night, and the sea high in the .morning. The Monaoon "going it." All the boats are lashed, by ropes across the deck, so that you have to bob under them when you walk along, as on a racecourse. The people are all huddled about wherever they can get in the dry. The tossuig worse than yesterday. Got bored upon deck, and went to my cabin ; got bored there, and came upon deck again, and wished I was anywhere else. At dinner everything was lashed again, but the sea was running so TO CHINA AND BACK. 13 high, that just as we were sitting down, all the soup flew at Dr. Little, and covered him. Then a pigeon pie shot at the Punkah-puller's head, and then our seat broke from the floor with a lurch, and three of us threw a back somerset. After dinner the gamblers struggled at vingt-un again, but with great difficulty. I come down to tea every night simply because it is something to do; but it only makes me hot and fidgetty afterwards, I am really getting terribly bored — ^have read all my books — cannot make up my mind to write, and am only thinking of home. Saturday Z\st (from this point to China the thermometer varied between 80° and 90°). — Having again suffered considerably from the heat, which the ship's thermometer did not justify, I found that it had been wafted into my cabin from the engine-room, the forge, the oven, and the cooking, all combined, with the various attendant smells. The sea has somewhat gone down. Sunday, August \st. — A good night's rest — indeed I did not awake until the breakfast-bell rung. A good wiijd and all sails set. Church at half-past ten. "We had another parson to-day — not a bad fellow at all ; but his voice was scarcely loud enough for the saloon, and I did not hear his sermon very well, as the wind made a noise. But, from what I could gather, it recommended us to control our desires. Hoped F. would benefit by it, as he always took too much preserved ginger — the young and tender shoots too — at dessert. About eight p.m. it got very cloudy, and the captain had the topsails taken down, or in, or whatever they call it. A very nice lady of our party, whose husband was with his sjiip at Calcutta, said the captain would " furl the wind- sails next." This made great fun — but it must be remembered we were on board ship. Monday, 2nd. — ^The Jackos began their row about four this morning: and soon came unholy smells of tobacco, and onions, and burnt ghee (most offensive), and Ess : Blacky, and foul things generally. Mr. Eay, the Government agent, is a very nice old gentleman. He amuses himself with water-colour drawing : and has excellent sketches of Aden, SingaporCj the wreck of the Bouro, &c. Two terrible children worry him much, and mess his paints when he is not looking: they are of the real offensive " sharp-little-things" school, with large eyes- and gappy teeth. This evening we played Sea-Quoits on deck. The quoits are made of pieces of rope spliced into rings, and we chalk a scheme upon deck,^ thus ; — < B 50 100 70 80 40 60 20 10 30 14 TO CHINA AND BACK. The game is 300, and is played like hopscotch. Quoits pitched on the line don't count, and if you go into B, you lose altogether; and as many as you get above 300 is subtracted from your score. The boys again lost more than they could afford, and a man, whom I did not think a great deal of during' the voyage, generally won their money. Tiiesday, Zrd. — ^Bather hot again, the pillow feeling warmer than my head. "Went into Mr. Hope's cabin and saw the drawings he has made of the accident to the engine. He says he could take her home round the Cape, now, by hooping up the broken cylinder. Borrowed "Digby Grand" of him, and read it, but was disappointed. It is a succession of detached descriptive scenes, and no characters — the plot seems a mere thread on which to hang a lot of tableaux. It is astonishing how hard everything you sit on, on board ship, gradually becomes. Slept on deck again. About one, four large spots of rain fell, and no more. Wednesday, 4