SINGAPORE.
_Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks_
_Grazing the tender herb, were interpos'd,_
_Or palmy hillock, or the flow'ry lap_
_Of some irriguous valley spread her store,_
_Flowers of all hues, and without thorn the rose._
_Saturday, March 17th_.--We were off Singapore during the night. At 5
a.m. the pilot came on board and took us into Tangong Pagar to coal
alongside the wharf. We left the ship as soon as possible, and in
about an hour we had taken forty-three tons of coal on board and
nearly twenty tons of water. The work was rapidly performed by
coolies. It was a great disappointment to be told by the
harbour-master that the Governor of the Straits Settlement and Lady
Jervoise were to leave at eleven o'clock for Johore. We determined to
go straight to the Government House and make a morning call at the
unearthly hour of 8 a.m. The drive from the wharf was full of beauty,
novelty, and interest. We had not landed so near the line before, and
the most tropical of tropical plants, trees, flowers, and ferns, were
here to be seen, growing by the roadside on every bank and dust-heap.
The natives, Malays, are a fine-looking, copper-coloured race, wearing
bright-coloured sarongs and turbans. There are many Indians, too, from
Madras, almost black, and swathed in the most graceful white muslin
garments, when they are not too hard at work to wear anything at all.
The young women are very good-looking. They wear not only one but
several rings, and metal ornaments in their noses, and a profusion of
metal bangles on their arms and legs, which jingle and jangle as they
move.
The town of Singapore itself is not imposing, its streets, or rather
roads of wooden huts and stone houses, being mixed together
indiscriminately. Government House is on the outskirts of the city in
the midst of a beautiful park which is kept in excellent order, the
green turf being closely mown and dotted with tropical trees and
bushes. The House itself is large and handsome, and contains splendid
suites of lofty rooms, shaded by wide verandahs, full of ferns and
palms, looking deliciously green and cool. We found the Governor and
his family did not start until 11.30, and they kindly begged us to
return to breakfast at half-past nine, which we did. Before finally
leaving, Sir William Jervoise sent for the Colonial Secretary, and
asked him to look after us in his absence. He turned out to be an old
schoolfellow and college friend of Tom's at Rugby and Oxford; so the
meeting was a very pleasant one. As soon as the Governor and his suite
had set off for Johore we went down into the hot dusty town to get our
letters, parcels, and papers, and to look at the shops. There are not
many Malay specialities to be bought here; most of the curiosities
come from India, China, and Japan, with the exception of birds of
Paradise from New Guinea, and beautiful bright birds of all colours
and sizes from the various islands in the Malay Archipelago.
The north-east monsoon still blows fresh and strong, but it was
nevertheless terribly hot in the streets, and we were very glad to
return to the cool, shady rooms at Government House, where we
thoroughly appreciated the delights of the punkah.
There are very few European servants here, and they all have their own
peons to wait on them, and carry an umbrella over them when they drive
the carriage or go for a walk on their own account. Even the private
soldier in Singapore has a punkah pulled over his bed at night. It is
quite a sight to meet all the coolies leaving barracks at 5 a.m., when
they have done punkah-pulling.
At four o'clock Mr. Douglas called to take us for a drive. We went
first to the Botanical Gardens, and saw sago-palms and all sorts of
tropical produce flourishing in perfection. There were many beautiful
birds and beasts, Argus pheasants, Lyre birds, cuckoos, doves, and
pigeons, more like parrots than doves in the gorgeous metallic lustre
of their plumage. The cages were large, and the enclosures in front
full of Cape jasmine bushes (covered with buds) for the birds to peck
at and eat.
From the gardens we went for a drive through the pretty villas that
surround Singapore in every direction. Every house outside the town is
built on a separate little hill in order to catch every breath of
fresh air. There is generally rather a long drive up to the houses,
and the public roads run along the valleys between them.
It was now dark, and we returned to dine at Government House.
_Sunday, March 18th_.--At six o'clock this morning Mabelle and I went
ashore with the steward and the comprador to the market. It is a nice,
clean, octagonal building, well supplied with vegetables and curious
fruits. The latter are mostly brought from the other islands, as this
is the worst season of the year in Singapore for fruit. I do not quite
understand why this should be, for, as it is only a degree above the
line, there is very little variation in the seasons here. The sun
always rises and sets at six o'clock all the year round; for months
they have a north-east monsoon, and then for months together a
south-west monsoon.
We tasted many fruits new to us--delicious mangosteens, lacas, and
other fruits whose names I could not ascertain. Lastly, we tried a
durian, _the_ fruit of the East, as it is called by people who live
here, and having got over the first horror of the onion-like odour we
found it by no means bad.
The fish market is the cleanest, and best arranged, and sweetest
smelling that I ever went through. It is situated on a sort of open
platform, under a thick thatched roof, built out over the sea, so that
all the refuse is easily disposed of and washed away by the tide. From
the platform on which it stands, two long jetties run some distance
out into the sea, so that large fishing boats can come alongside and
discharge their cargoes from the deep at the door of the market with
scarcely any exposure to the rays of the tropical sun.
The poultry market is a curious place. On account of the intense heat
everything is brought alive to the market, and the quacking, cackling,
gobbling, and crowing that go on are really marvellous. The whole
street is alive with birds in baskets, cages, and coops, or tied by
the leg and thrown down anyhow. There were curious pheasants and
jungle-fowl from Perak, doves, pigeons, quails, besides cockatoos,
parrots, parrakeets, and lories. They are all very tame and very
cheap; and some of the scarlet lories, looking like a flame of fire,
chatter in the most amusing way. I have a cage full of tiny parrots
not bigger than bullfinches, of a dark green colour, with dark red
throats and blue heads, yellow marks on the back, and red and yellow
tails. Having bought these, everybody seemed to think that I wanted an
unlimited supply of birds, and soon we were surrounded by a chattering
crowd, all with parrots in their hands and on their shoulders. It was
a very amusing sight, though rather noisy, and the competition reduced
the prices very much. Parrakeets ranged from twelve to thirty cents
apiece, talking parrots and cockatoos from one to five dollars. At
last the vendors became so energetic that I was glad to get into the
gharry again, and drive away to a flower shop, where we bought some
gardenias for one penny a dozen, beautifully fresh and fragrant, but
with painfully short stalks.
Towards the end of the south-west monsoon, little native open boats
arrive from the islands 1,500 to 3,000 miles to the southward of
Singapore. Each has one little tripod mast. The whole family live on
board. The sides of the boat cannot be seen for the multitudes of
cockatoos, parrots, parrakeets, and birds of all sorts, fastened on
little perches, with very short strings attached to them. The decks
are covered with sandal-wood. The holds are full of spice, shells,
feathers, and South Sea pearl shells. With this cargo they creep from
island to island, and from creek to creek, before the monsoon, till
they reach their destination. They stay a month or six weeks, change
their goods for iron, nails, a certain amount of pale green or Indian
red thread for weaving, and some pieces of Manchester cotton. They
then go back with the north-east monsoon, selling their goods at the
various islands on their homeward route. There are many Dutch ports
nearer than Singapore, but they are over-regulated, and preference is
given to the free English port, where the simple natives can do as
they like so long as they do not transgress the laws.
As we were going on board, we met the Maharajah of Johore's servant,
just going off with invitations to dinner, lunch, and breakfast for
the next two days for all our party, and with all sorts of kind
propositions for shooting and other amusements.
Some of our friends came off before luncheon to see the yacht, and we
returned with them to tiffin at Government House. At four o'clock the
carriage came round to take us to Johore. We wished good-bye to
Singapore and all our kind friends, and started on a lovely drive
through the tropical scenery. There is a capital road, fifteen miles
in length, across the island, and our little ponies rattled along at a
good pace. There was a pleasant breeze and not much dust, no sun, and
a stream ran the whole way by the side of the road. The acacia
flamboyante--that splendid tree which came originally from Rangoon and
Sumatra--was planted alongside the road, and produced a most charming
effect. It is a large tree, with large leaves of the most delicate
green; on its topmost boughs grow gorgeous clusters of scarlet flowers
with yellow centres, and the effect of these scarlet plumes tossing in
the air is truly beautiful. As we were driving along we espied a
splendid butterfly, with wings about ten inches long. Mr. Bingham
jumped out of the carriage and knocked it down with his hat; but it
was so like the colour of leaves in grass that in the twilight nobody
could distinguish it, and, to our great disappointment, we could not
find it. We were equally unsuccessful in our attempted capture of a
water-snake a couple of feet long. We threw sticks and stones and our
syce waded into the stream, but all to no purpose; it glided away into
some safe little hole under the bank.
We reached the sea-shore about six o'clock, and found the Maharajah's
steam-launch waiting to convey us across the Straits to the mainland.
These Straits used to be the old route to Singapore, and are somewhat
intricate. Tom engaged a very good pilot to bring the yacht round, but
at the last moment thought that he should like to bring her himself;
the result being that he arrived rather late for dinner. The Maharajah
and most of the party were out shooting when we arrived; but Sir
William Jervoise met us and showed us round the place, and also
arranged about rooms for us to dress in. Johore is a charming place;
the Straits are so narrow and full of bends that they look more like a
peaceful river or inland lake in the heart of a tropical forest than
an arm of the mighty ocean. As we approached we had observed a good
deal of smoke rising from the jungle, and, as the shades of evening
closed over the scene, we could see the lurid glare of two extensive
fires.
We sat down thirty to dinner at eight o'clock. There were the
Maharajah's brothers, the Prime Minister, Harkim or judge, and several
other Malay chiefs, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, his
family and suite, and one or two people from Singapore. The dinner was
cooked and served in European style; the table decorated with gold and
silver épergnes full of flowers, on velvet stands, and with heaps of
small cut-flower glasses full of jasmine. We were waited on by the
Malay servants of the establishment, dressed in grey and yellow, and
by the Governor's Madras servants, in white and scarlet. The Maharajah
and his native guests were all in English evening dress, with white
waistcoats, bright turbans, and sarongs. The room was large and open
on all sides, and the fresh evening breeze, in addition to the
numerous punkahs, made it delightfully cool. The Maharajah is a strict
Mohammedan himself, and drinks nothing but water. I spent the three
hours during which the dinner lasted in very pleasant conversation
with my two neighbours. We returned on board soon after eleven
o'clock.
[Illustration: Maharajah of Johore's House.]
_Monday, March 19th_.--Mabelle and I went ashore at six o'clock for a
drive. It was a glorious morning, with a delightfully cool breeze,
and the excursion was most enjoyable. We drove first through the old
town of Johore, once of considerable importance, and still a place of
trade for opium, indigo, pepper, and other tropical products. Nutmeg
and maize used to be the great articles of export, but latterly the
growth has failed, and, instead of the groves we had expected to see,
there were only solitary trees. After leaving the town we went along a
good road for some distance, with cottages and clearings on either
side, until we came to a pepper and gambir plantation. The two crops
are cultivated together, and both are grown on the edge of the jungle,
for the sake of the wood, which is burned in the preparation of the
gambir. I confess that I had never heard of the latter substance
before, but I find that it is largely exported to Europe, where it is
occasionally employed for giving weight to silks, and for tanning
purposes.
The pepper garden we saw was many acres in extent. Some of the trees
in the forest close by are very fine, especially the camphor-wood, and
the great red, purple, and copper-coloured oleanders, which grow in
clumps twenty and thirty feet in height. The orchids with which all
the trees were covered, hanging down in long tassels of lovely
colours, or spread out like great spotted butterflies and insects,
were most lovely of all. By far the most abundant was the white
phalænopsis, with great drooping sprays of pure white waxy blossoms,
some delicately streaked with crimson, others with yellow. It was a
genuine jungle, and we were told that it is the resort of numerous
tigers and elephants, and that snakes abound.
On our way back through the town we stopped to see the process of
opium making. This drug is brought from India in an almost raw state,
rolled up in balls, about the size of billiard balls, and wrapped in
its own leaves. Here it is boiled down, several times refined, and
prepared for smoking. The traffic in it forms a very profitable
monopoly, which is shared in Singapore between the English Government
and the Maharajah of Johore.
We also saw indigo growing; the dye is prepared very much in the same
way as the gambir. That grown here is not so good as that which comes
from India, and it is therefore not much exported, though it is used
by the innumerable Chinese in the Malay peninsula to dye all their
clothes, which are invariably of some deep shade of blue. We saw
sago-palms growing, but the mill was not working, so that we could not
see the process of manufacture; but it seems to be very similar to the
preparation of tapioca, which we had seen in Brazil.
On our passage through the town we went to look at a large gambling
establishment; of course no one was playing so early in the morning,
but in the evening it is always densely crowded, and is a great source
of profit to the proprietor. I could not manage to make out exactly
from the description what the game they play is like, but it was not
fan-tan. We now left the carriage, and strolled to see the people, the
shops, and the market. I bought all sorts of common curiosities,
little articles of everyday life, some of which will be sure to amuse
and interest my English friends. Among my purchases were a wooden
pillow, some joss candles, a two-stringed fiddle, and a few preserved
eggs, which they say are over a hundred years old. The eggs are
certainly nasty enough for anything; still it seems strange that so
thrifty a people as the Chinese should allow so much capital to lie
dormant--literally buried in the earth.
At half-past nine o'clock the Maharajah, with the Governor and all his
guests, came on board. His Highness inspected the yacht with the
utmost minuteness and interest, though his Mohammedan ideas about
women were considerably troubled when he was told that I had had a
great deal to do with the designing and arrangement of the interior.
At half-past eleven the party left, and an hour afterwards we went to
make our adieux to the Maharajah.
On our departure the Maharajah ordered twenty coolies to accompany
us, laden with fragrant tropical plants. He also gave me some splendid
Malay silk sarongs, grown, made, and woven in his kingdom, a pair of
tusks of an elephant shot within a mile of the house, besides a live
little beast, not an alligator, and not an armadillo or a lizard; in
fact I do not know what it is; it clings round my arm just like a
bracelet, and it was sent as a present by the ex-Sultan of Johore.
Having said farewell to our kind host and other friends, we pushed off
from the shore, and embarked on board the yacht; the anchor was up,
and by five o'clock a bend in the Straits hid hospitable and pleasant
Johore from our view, and all we could see was the special steamer on
her way back to Singapore with the Maharajah's guests on board. At
Tanjore we dropped our funny little pilot, and proceeded on our course
towards Penang. The Straits are quite lovely, and fully repaid the
trouble and time involved in the detour made to visit them. The sun
set and the young moon arose over as lovely a tropical scene as you
can possibly imagine.
[Illustration: The pet Manis.]
_Tuesday, March 20th_.--At 5.30, when we were called, the Doctor came
and announced that he had something very important to communicate to
us. This proved to be that one of our men was suffering from
small-pox, and not from rheumatic fever, as had been supposed. My
first thought was that Muriel had been with the Doctor to see him
yesterday evening; my next, that many men had been sleeping in the
same part of the vessel with him; my third, that for his greater
comfort he had been each day in our part of the ship; and my fourth,
what was to be done now? After a short consultation, Tom decided to
alter our course for Malacca, where we arrived at half-past nine; the
Doctor at once went on shore in a native prahu to make the best
arrangements he could under the circumstances. He was fortunate enough
to find Dr. Simon, nephew of the celebrated surgeon of the same name,
installed as head physician at the civil hospital here. He came off at
once with the hospital boat, and, having visited the invalid, declared
his illness to be a very mild case of small-pox. He had brought off
some lymph with him, and recommended us all to be re-vaccinated. He
had also brought sundry disinfectants, and gave instructions about
fumigating and disinfecting the yacht. All the men were called upon
the quarter-deck, and addressed by Tom, and we were surprised to find
what a large proportion of them objected to the operation of
vaccination. At last, however, the prejudices of all of them, except
two, were overcome. One of the latter had promised his grandfather
that he never would be vaccinated under any circumstances, while
another would consent to be inoculated, but would not be vaccinated.
We had consulted our own medical man before leaving England, and knew
that for ourselves the operation was not necessary, but we
nevertheless underwent it _pour encourager les autres_. While the
Doctor was on shore we had been surrounded by boats bringing monkeys,
birds, ratan and Malacca canes, fruit, rice, &c., to sell, and as I
did not care to go ashore, thinking there might be some bother about
quarantine, we made bargains over the side of the yacht with the
traders, the result being that seven monkeys, about fifty birds of
sorts, and innumerable bundles of canes, were added to the stock on
board. In the meantime Dr. Simon had removed our invalid to the
hospital.
Malacca looks exceedingly pretty from the sea. It is a regular Malay
village, consisting of huts, built on piles close to the water,
overshadowed by cocoa palms and other forms of tropical vegetation.
Mount Ofia rises in the distance behind; there are many green islands,
too, in the harbour. By one o'clock we were again under way, and once
more _en route_ for Penang.
[Illustration: MALACCA]
_Wednesday, March 21st_.--During the night we had heavy thunder
storms. About 11 a.m. we passed a piece of drift-wood with a bird
perched on the top, presenting a most curious effect. Several of the
men on board mistook it for the back fin of a large shark. About 5
p.m. we made the island of Penang. After sunset it became very hazy,
and we crept slowly up, afraid of injuring the numerous stake nets
that are set about the Straits most promiscuously, and without any
lights to mark their position. Before midnight we had dropped our
anchor.
_Thursday, March 22nd_.--At 5 a.m., when we were called, the whole sky
was overcast with a lurid glare, and the atmosphere was thick, as if
with the fumes of some vast conflagration. As the sun rose in raging
fierceness, the sky cleared, and became of a deep, clear, transparent
blue. The island of Penang is very beautiful, especially in the early
morning light. It was fortunate we did not try to come in last night,
as we could now see that we must inevitably have run through some of
the innumerable stake nets I mentioned. As we approached Georgetown,
the capital of the province, we passed many steamers and sailing ships
at anchor in the roads. A pilot offered his services, but Tom declined
them with thanks, and soon afterwards skilfully brought us up close in
shore in the crowded roadstead. The harbour-master sent off, as did
also the mail-master, but no Board of Health officials appeared; so,
after some delay, the Doctor went on shore to find the local medical
man, promising shortly to return. He did not, however, reappear, and,
after waiting a couple of hours, we landed without opposition. We
packed off all the servants for a run on shore, and had all the fires
put out in order to cool the ship. Our first inquiry was for an hotel
where we could breakfast, and we were recommended to go to the Hôtel
de l'Europe.
Our demands for breakfast were met at first with the reply that it was
too late, and that we must wait till one o'clock tiffin; but a little
persuasion induced the manager to find some cold meat, eggs, and
lemonade. We afterwards drove out to one or two shops, but anything so
hopeless as the stores here I never saw. Not a single curiosity could
we find, not even a bird. We drove round the town, and out to the
Governor's house; he was away, but we were most kindly received by
Mrs. Anson and his daughter, and strongly recommended by them to make
an expedition to the bungalow at the top of the hill. In about an hour
and a half, always ascending, we reached the Governor's bungalow,
situated in a charming spot, where the difference of 10° in the
temperature, caused by being 1,500 feet higher up, is a great boon.
After tiffin and a rest at the hotel, a carriage came to take us to
the foot of the hill, about four miles from the town. We went first
to a large Jesuit establishment, where some most benevolent old
priests were teaching a large number of Malay boys reading, writing,
and geography. Then we went a little further, and, in a small wooden
house, under the cocoa trees, at last found some of the little humming
birds for which the Malay Archipelago is famous. They glisten with a
marvellous metallic lustre all over their bodies, instead of only in
patches, as one sees upon those in South America and the West Indies.
The drive was intensely tropical in character, until we reached the
waterfall, where we left the carriage and got into chairs, each
carried by six coolies. The scenery all about the waterfall is lovely,
and a large stream of sparkling, cool, clear water tumbling over the
rocks was most refreshing to look at. Many people who have business in
Penang live up here, riding up and down morning and evening, for the
sake of the cool, refreshing night air. One of the most curious things
in vegetation which strikes our English eyes is the extraordinary
abundance of the sensitive plant. It is interwoven with all the grass,
and grows thickly in all the hedgerows. In the neatly kept turf, round
the Government bungalow, its long, creeping, prickly stems,
acacia-like leaves, and little fluffy mauve balls of flowers are so
numerous, that, walking up and down the croquet lawn, it appears to be
bowing before you, for the delicate plants are sensible of even an
approaching footstep, and shut up and hide their tiny leaves among the
grass long before you really reach them.
From the top of the hill you can see ninety miles in the clear
atmosphere, far away across the Straits of Perak to the mainland. We
could not stay long, and were carried down the hill backwards, as our
bearers were afraid of our tumbling out of the chairs if we travelled
forwards. The tropical vegetation is even more striking here, but,
alas! it is already losing its novelty to us. Those were indeed
pleasant days when everything was new and strange; it seems now
almost as if years, not months, had gone past since we first entered
these latitudes. We found the carriage waiting for us when we arrived
at the bottom of the hill about seven o'clock, and it was not long
before we reached the town.
The glowworms and fireflies were numerous. The natives were cooking
their evening meal on the ground beneath the tall palm-trees as we
passed, with the glare of the fires lighting up the picturesque huts,
their dark figures relieved by their white and scarlet turbans and
waist-cloth. The whole scene put us very much in mind of the old
familiar pictures of India, the lithe figures of the natives looking
like beautiful bronze statues, the rough country carts, drawn by
buffaloes without harness, but dragging by their hump, and driven by
black-skinned natives armed with a long goad. We went straight to the
jetty, and found to our surprise that in the roads there was quite a
breeze blowing, and a very strong tide running against it, which made
the sea almost rough.
Mrs. and Miss Anson, Mr. Talbot, and other friends, dined with us. At
eleven they landed, and we weighed anchor, and were soon gliding
through the Straits of Malacca, shaping for Acheen Head, _en route_ to
Galle.
It seems strange that an important English settlement like Penang,
where so many large steamers and ships are constantly calling, should
be without lights or quarantine laws. We afterwards learned on shore
that the local government had already surveyed and fixed a place for
two leading lights. The reason why no health officers came off to us
this morning was probably that, small-pox and cholera both being
prevalent in the town, they thought that the fewer questions they
asked, and the less they saw of incoming vessels, the better.
_Friday, March 23rd_.--A broiling day, everybody panting, parrots and
parrakeets dying. We passed a large barque with every sail set,
although it was a flat calm, which made us rejoice in the possession
of steam-power. Several people on board are very unwell, and the
engineer is really ill. It is depressing to speculate what would
become of us if anything went wrong in the engine-room department, and
if we should be reduced to sail-power alone in this region of
calmness. At last even I know what it is to be too hot, and am quite
knocked up with my short experience.
[Illustration: How the Journal was written]
_Saturday, March 24th_.--Another flat calm. The after-forecastle,
having been battened down and fumigated for the last seventy-two
hours, was to-day opened, and its contents brought up on deck, some to
be thrown overboard, and others to be washed with carbolic acid. I
never saw such quantities of things as were turned out; they covered
the whole deck, and it seemed as if their cubic capacity must be far
greater than that of the place in which they had been stowed. Besides
the beds and tables of eight men, there were forty-eight birds, four
monkeys, two cockatoos, and a tortoise, besides Japanese cabinets and
boxes of clothes, books, china, coral, shells, and all sorts of
imaginable and unimaginable things. One poor tortoise had been killed
and bleached white by the chlorine gas.
_Sunday, March 25th_.--Hotter than ever. It was quite impossible to
have service either on deck or below. We always observe Sunday by
showing a little extra attention to dress, and, as far as the
gentlemen are concerned, a little more care in the matter of shaving.
On other days I fear our toilets would hardly pass muster in civilised
society. Tom set the example of leaving off collars, coats, and
waistcoats; so shirts and trousers are now the order of the day. The
children wear grass-cloth pinafores and very little else, no shoes or
stockings, Manilla or Chinese slippers being worn by those who dislike
bare feet. I find my Tahitian and Hawaiian dresses invaluable: they
are really cool, loose, and comfortable, and I scarcely ever wear
anything else.
We passed a large steamer about 7.30 a.m., and in the afternoon
altered our course to speak the 'Middlesex,' of London, bound to the
Channel for orders. We had quite a long conversation with the captain,
and parted with mutual good wishes for a pleasant voyage. It was a
lovely moonlight night, but very hot, though we found a delightful
sleeping-place beneath the awning on deck.
_Monday, March 26th_.--The sun appeared to rise even fiercer and
hotter than ever this morning. I have been very anxious for the last
few days about Baby, who has been cutting some teeth and has suffered
from a rash. Muriel has been bitten all over by mosquitoes, and
Mabelle has also suffered from heat-rash. Just now every little
ailment suggests small-pox to our minds.
About noon, when in latitude 6.25 North, and in longitude 88.25 East,
we began to encounter a great deal of drift wood, many large trees,
branches, plants, leaves, nautilus shells, back-bones of cuttlefish,
and, in addition, large quantities of yellow spawn, evidently
deposited by some fish of large size. The spawn appeared to be of a
very solid, consistent character, like large yellow grapes, connected
together in a sort of gelatinous mass. It formed a continuous wide
yellow streak perhaps half a mile in length, and with the bits of wood
and branches sticking up in its midst at intervals, it would not have
required a very lively imagination to fashion it at a little distance
into a sea serpent. Where does all this _débris_ come from? was the
question asked by everybody. Out of the Bay of Bengal probably,
judging from the direction of the current. We wondered if it could
possibly be the remains of some of the trees uprooted by the last
great cyclone.
At 1.30 p.m. a man cried out from the rigging, 'Boat on the starboard
bow!' a cry that produced great excitement immediately; our course was
altered and telescopes and glasses brought to bear upon the object in
question. Every one on board, except our old sailing master, said it
was a native boat. Some even said that they could see a man on board
waving something. Powell alone declared it to be the root of a palm
from the Bay of Bengal, and he proved right. A very large root it was,
with one single stem and a few leaves hanging down, which had exactly
the appearance of broken masts, tattered sails, and torn rigging. We
went close alongside to have a good look at it; the water was as clear
as crystal, and beneath the surface were hundreds of beautifully
coloured fish, greedily devouring something--I suppose small insects,
or fish entangled among the roots.
_Tuesday, March 27th_.--It requires a great effort to do anything,
except before sunrise or after sunset, owing to the intense heat; and
when one is not feeling well it makes exertion still more difficult.
At night the heat below is simply unbearable; the cabins are deserted,
and all mattresses are brought up on deck.