alongside the pier, getting on board the last few articles of her cargo, and waiting for the arrival of the mail. Her deck presented a strange medley, both of men and things; while the utmost confusion seemed everywhere to prevail, in striking contrast to the neatness and regularity of everything on board when fairly out at sea. Boxes, portmanteaus, and almost every description of luggage were lying about in the most beautifully disordered state imaginable; and, in addition to Europeans of various nationalities, there were interspersed among the crowd strange-looking beings, natives of the far East, each one dressed out in his own peculiar costume. One woman especially attracted my attention from the number of gold ornaments that she wore on her person. In addition to the heavy bracelets that encircled her wrists she had pieces of gold, beautifully made, fixed into different parts of her ears, and even in the sides of her nose. These were fastened in something after the manner of studs, and gave her a most strange and grotesque appearance. Some of the Indian passengers informed me that it was the custom for the Indian women to invest whatever money they can possibly save in this particular form, and evidently this woman, who had come to England as servant to an English lady, had spent all her money in buying these various ornaments, which were of considerable value, as, during the various changes of steamers by the way, she experienced a good deal of difficulty from the fact that she was utterly destitute of money. After some delay the carriages containing the mail drew up alongside the ship, and box after box was handed on board and deposited safely below. From the size of the

carriages containing the mail, and the time it took about a dozen and more of men to put them on board, there must have been several hundreds of cases destined for the several places along the route, but principally for India and China. Previous to this, although I was well aware that our correspondence with the East must necessarily be very extensive, I had no idea that it was so large as it really is, until I stood looking at case after case coming on board, and mentally computing how many letters each might contain. Being aided somewhat in my computations by the mail master on board, I realized that our connection with the East was by no means of a nominal, but of a very serious and mixed character. As the last of the boxes were being put on board, the bell was rung as a signal that all except passengers should go on shore, and the removal of the gangways indicated that but a few minutes would elapse before we should proceed on our journey.

THE FAREWELL.

The last few minutes were exceedingly painful ones, and very similar in character to those described at the railway station, but on a somewhat more extensive scale. Several aged parents had come on board to take a last farewell of their sons and daughters, and the sorrow of these people was to me peculiarly touching; indeed, I could hardly refrain from tears myself as I watched them passing over the gangway, weeping and almost broken-hearted. Such exhibitions of human affection and tenderness are as fragrant flowers amid the wilderness of a world where they bloom but too rarely. At such moments one is forcibly

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reminded of another place where such scenes will be impossible, and where tears shall never have to flow because of the separation of loved ones from each other. I felt considerably when I saw the ropes that held the steamer to the pier cast off, and, the captain and officers having taken their several stations, the capstern was manned, and, under the influence of sturdy arms, the vessel's head began gradually to turn towards the sea. After some little manoeuvring on the part of the pilot, which required a considerable amount of skill to execute, we fairly got out of the narrow entrance leading into the harbour where the steamers usually lie; and, with full speed, we started, on a bright and sunny afternoon, on our watery way.

THE VOYAGE.

The first hour or two were full of great interest. The various places that we passed served to draw away our thoughts, and dispel for a time the feeling of loneliness which insensibly creeps over the heart in leaving our native land. Independently of that natural feeling which binds us so closely to our own country, there are others which come into active play at such a season as this. However hopeful the heart may be, and however disposed to take a cheerful view of things, we cannot altogether banish from the mind the feeling of uncertainty invari. ably attached to the future. The dangers of Eastern life are much more numerous and pressing than those experienced at home, and the heart instinctively dreads lest behind the dark veil which hides the present from the future, there should lie many a scene through which the

soul would shrink from passing. Such thoughts as these, however, were soon dispelled by the various sights that attracted our attention. The scenery we passed was exceedingly beautiful. On one side were elegant villas scattered all along the shore, which, nestling among trees, and peeping out from the midst of them, as if to watch us as we passed, suggested ideas only of comfort and prosperity. The landscape, too, seemed specially rich in those peculiar features which are characteristic of English scenery. In very few places of the world does the grass seem so soft and luxuriant as in England; and seldom can meadows, with their abundance of trees, and their quiet atmosphere of meek contentment, be found so thoroughly in perfection as in our native land. On the other side rose the Ise of Wight, between which and the mainland our good ship steamed towards the ocean. It seemed as though nature had put on her best and most cheerful aspect that day, as, gilded by the sun, she appeared to smile upon us as we bid good-bye to her shores. It was with strange emotions that I saw the land begin to grow dim upon the horizon, the main features becoming every moment still more indistinct and indefinite, until at last it faded, like a shadow, altogether from our sight. And now, as we are out at sea and well away from land, with nothing to look at but sky and sea, it may not be out of place to take a glance at our ship, and look a little more closely at the numerous passengers that crowd the deck, the great majority of whom are to travel with me almost to the end of our long journey. Our ship, the " Tanjore," is a very fine one, and fitted up most admirably in every way. She

well sustains the character which the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamers have universally obtained. She has been constructed with due regard to speed, and yet admirably adapted for such weary weather as is pretty certain to be met with during the winter months in her journeys across the Atlantic. Her breadth of beam, and the manner in which she has been constructed, so as to enable her to stand the wear and tear of heavy gales, must inspire with confidence everyone who may have to travel in her. The captain and officers appeared specially proud of her, and described to me how, in several terrific gales which they had encountered during the past winter, she had rode over the waves "like a duck," and, indeed, seemed more in her element than that bird would have been under similar circumstances. I had no ambition whatever to have practical testimony as to her capabilities in this respect, but was quite willing to rest satisfied with the evidence thus given me. I had passed through so many severe gales in my passage round the Cape of Good Hope that I had no desire whatever to make their further acquaintance.