I Observed That
All The People Surveyed The Baby As She Was Carried Through Them, In
Her Native Servant's Arms, With Peculiar Benignity.
She was certainly
a beautiful specimen of an English infant, and in her pretty white
frock, lace cap, and
Drawn pink silk bonnet, would have attracted
attention anywhere; such an apparition the people now assembled
at Atfee had probably never seen before, and they were evidently
delighted to look at her. She was equally pleased, crowing and
spreading out her little arms to all who approached her.
The smallness of the boat rendered it necessary that I should open
one of my portmanteaus, and take out a supply of clothes before it was
sent away; while thus occupied, I found myself overlooked by two or
three respectably-clad women, who were in a boat, with several men,
alongside. I did not, of course, understand what they said, but by
their gestures guessed that they were asking for some of the strange
things which they saw. I had nothing that I could well spare, or that
I thought would be useful to them, excepting a paper of needles, which
I put into one of their hands, through the window of the cabin. The
envelope being flourished over with gold, they at first thought that
there was nothing more to be seen, but being directed by signs to
open it, they were in ecstasy at the sight of the needles, which they
proceeded forthwith to divide.
We now pushed off, and found that, in the narrow limits to which we
were confined, we must only retain our carpet-bags and dressing-cases.
The small cabin which occupies the stern was surrounded on three sides
with lockers, which formed seats, but which were too narrow to hold
our beds; moveable planks, of different dimensions, to suit the shape
of the boat, fitted in, making the whole flush when requisite, and
forming a space amply wide enough for our mattresses, but in which
we could not stand upright. To our great joy, we found the whole
extremely clean, and in perfect repair, so that we could easily submit
to the minor evils that presented themselves.
We had found Mohammed very active, attentive, and ready in the
departments in which we had hitherto employed him, but we were
now about to put his culinary abilities to the test. He spoke very
tolerable English, but surprised us a little by inquiring whether we
should like an Irish stew for dinner. A fowl was killed and picked in
a trice, and Mohammed had all his own way, excepting with regard to
the onions, which were, in his opinion, woefully restricted. A fowl
stewed with butter and potatoes, and garnished with boiled eggs, is
no bad thing, especially when followed by a dessert of fresh dates,
grapes, and pomegranates. A clerk of Mr. Waghorn's, an European, who
had the charge of the mails, went up in the boat with us; but as we
could not possibly afford him any accommodation in our cabin, his
situation at the prow must have been very uncomfortable.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 51 of 154
Words from 26283 to 26800
of 80716