F TO OFF CHINA: JOTTINGS ON THE WAY. BY REV. J. MACGOWAN. THE VOYAGE CONTINUED. UR noble ship's internal arrangements are admirable. All means have been employed to render the condition of the passengers as comfortable as possible. The cabins are very neatly fitted up with every requisite in the way of bedding and toilette services, so that when one goes on board everything that one requires for the voyage is found already prepared. The bed-room steward, who has the oversight of a limited number of cabins, takes charge of one's luggage, and during the time one remains on this particular steamer is always at hand to do anything that may be required by those within his department. The saloon is most beautifully fitted up with everything that can attract and please the eye. It has so much the appearance of what we are accustomed to meet with on shore, that one can hardly realize for a moment that we are on board ship. In calm weather, indeed, the only thing that reminds us that we are not comfortably seated in some immense dining-room on shore is the incessant grinding of the screw. For the first few days this is one of the greatest annoyances the passenger has to contend with, and for a time it seems perfectly unbearable. All day long that perpetual "crunch, crunch, crunch" of the screw, as it turns in its watery way, strikes the ear at almost every part of the ship; and during the night it seems, amid our sea-sickness, as though it were instinct with life, and were shrieking with delight at the misery of the wretched suf ferer. In stormy weather, when the hinder part of the vessel is lifted by the wave out of the water, the fearful rapidity with which the screw spins round in the air makes the ship quiver from stem to stern, until we begin to dread lest the vessel should be shaken to pieces in the terrible struggle. As regards the provisioning of the vessel, there is ample proof on deck that this also has been carefully attended to. If we take a stroll to the fore part of the ship, we shall find that it would require no very great stretch of imagination to believe we were transported to the neighbourhood of some farmyard. On one side are immense pens filled-I might almost say packed-with fowls, with a due proportion of geese and ducks close at hand. The only thing that seems unnatural is their being pent up so closely. It would be a relief to see them all set free, and enjoying again their liberty and farmyard experience. On the other side there are many sheep, of the famous Southdown breed, quietly eating their turnips, as though they had never left the freedom of the downs. In the centre of the ship are two cows, that provide us with the milk with which we are so liberally served every morning and evening. From the slight inspection we have thus made of one part of the food stores, you may well believe that we are not likely to run short of provisions, especially when I say that in everything else requisite for the comfort of the table the ship is supplied on an equally generous scale. The greatest regularity prevails with regard to meal times. No sooner does the bell on deck strike the hour, than the signal below is at once given, and, as the passengers crowd into the saloon, everything is found ready prepared. I was very much amused the first morning we were summoned to breakfast, at hearing the bugler in the passages of the fore saloon playing the air “Sweet Spirit, hear my Prayer," a tune which seemed somewhat ludicrous to associate with such a matter-of-fact occupation as that of taking our breakfast. The number of passengers is small, being only between fifty and sixty. The steamer could easily accommodate three times this number. Although the voyage is pleasant enough until we get as far as Alexandria, it will be found, unless we have a very unusual experience, that beyond that, and especially in our voyage down the Red Sea, we shall have a "roughing” to encounter, which may possibly try the stoutest of us, but which might in some degre be escaped were we journeying during the winter months Our party is certainly a very mixed and motley one, a great many varieties and shades of character being here represented. It would be exceedingly difficult to give any satisfactory idea of what is the kind of people with whom I have to journey, as first impressions are generally apt to be modified very considerably by a longer acquaintance. A MISTAKE CORRECTED. There is nothing like a long sea voyage for testing a person's character, and for developing either his weak or his strong points; so that the opinions formed at the commencement of a voyage may turn out, after a few weeks' experience, to have been very wide of the mark. For example, there is one elderly gentleman, who has been pacing the deck with most surprising perseverance almost ever since we left Southampton. I had a grave suspicion at first that this was done not so much for the purpose of exercise as with the idea of warding off that dread malady, which is by no means a respecter of persons. He seemed to be utterly out of his element at sea, and gave us the impression that he was some quiet city merchant who had wandered from the "Exchange," having by some curious accident been conveyed on board the steamer, and had hardly yet awoke to the full consciousness of his present position. He was a very pleasant man, and ready to enter into conversation with any one that addressed him. The feeling that rose uppermost in my mind was that of pity that a man at his age should be starting away on a long journey, when he should rather have been thinking of retiring from the bustle of life to spend the remainder of his days in peace. Fancy, then, my astonishment when I discovered that this very staid city-like gentleman, as I supposed, was a captain in her Majesty's Navy, who had spent his whole life at sea, had travelled over almost the whole world, had been in China many years ago, and remembered having met our missionaries, Medhurst and Lockhart there, and could talk with ability on almost any subject that one liked to propose! You may imagine how, in an instant, all my previous speculations vanished. Fancy his being sea-sick! Why, the thought was ridiculous. As soon would one expect to see the mast of the ship he was going out to command begin to shriek and tremble at the wind, as this man, whose whole life had been spent on the ocean. So much for first impressions. Next month you shall hear more about our fellow voyagers. (To be continued.) |