The Only
Seats Or Tables We Could Command In Our Cabin Consisted Of Our Boxes,
So That Being Turned Out Of The Saloon At Half-Past One, By The
Servants Who Laid The Cloth For Dinner, It Was Not Very Easy To Make
An Attempt At Writing, Or Even Needle-Work.
Doubtless the passengers
from Bombay could contrive to have more comforts about them.
It was
impossible, however, that those who had already made a long overland
journey should be provided with the means of furnishing their cabins,
and this consideration should weigh with the Government when taking
money for the accommodation of passengers. Cabins ought certainly to
be supplied with bed-places and a washing-table, and not to be left
perfectly dismantled by those occupants who arrive at Suez, and who,
having previously fitted them up, have a right to all they contain.
The miserable state of the Red Sea steamers, of course, often
furnished a theme for conversation, and we were repeatedly told that
their condition was entirely owing to the jealousy of the people of
Calcutta, who could not endure the idea of the importance to which
Bombay was rising, in consequence of its speedy communication with
England. Without knowing exactly where the fault may lie, it must be
said that there is great room for improvement. In all probability, the
increased number of persons who will proceed to India by way of the
Red Sea, now that the passage is open, will compel the merchants, or
other speculators, to provide better vessels for the trip. At present,
the price demanded is enormously disproportioned to the accommodation
given, while the chance of falling in with a disagreeable person in
the commandant should be always taken into consideration by those who
meditate the overland journey. The consolation, in so fine a vessel
as the Berenice, consists in the degree of certainty with which
the duration of the voyage may be calculated, eighteen or twenty days
being the usual period employed. In smaller steamers, and those of a
less favourable construction, accidents and delays are very frequent;
sometimes the coal is burning half the voyage, and thus rendered
nearly useless to the remaining portion, the vessel depending entirely
upon the sails.
During the hot weather and the monsoons, the navigation of the Red
Sea is attended with much inconvenience, from the sultriness of the
atmosphere and the high winds; it is only, therefore, at one season
of the year that travellers can, with any hope of comfort, avail
themselves of the route; it must, consequently, be questionable
whether the influx of voyagers will be sufficiently great to cover the
expense of the vessels required. A large steamer is now building
at Bombay, for the purpose of conveying the mails, and another is
expected out from England with the same object.
The shores of the Red Sea are bold and rocky, exhibiting ranges of
picturesque hills, sometimes seceding from, at others approaching, the
beach. A few days brought us to Mocha.
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