On their heads
they wore tightly fitting white caps, with a long flap hanging down
as far as their shoulders. These caps, too, had a blue border. The
complexion of the natives was a dark brown or coffee colour.
Late in the evening, a native woman came on board with her two
children. She had paid second-class fare, and was shown a small
dark berth not far from the first cabin places. Her younger child
had, unfortunately, a bad cough, which prevented some rich English
lady, who had likewise a child with her, from sleeping. Perhaps the
exaggerated tenderness which this lady manifested for her little son
caused her to believe that the cough might be catching; but, be that
as it may, the first thing she did on the following morning, was to
beg that the captain would transfer mother and children to the deck,
which the noble-hearted humane captain immediately did, neither the
lady nor himself caring in the least whether the poor mother had or
had not, even a warm coverlid to protect her sick child from the
night cold and the frequent heavy showers.
Would that this rich English lady's child had only been ill, and
exposed with her to the foggy night air, that she might herself have
experienced what it is to be thus harshly treated! A person of any
heart must almost feel ashamed at belonging to a class of beings who
allow themselves to be far surpassed in humanity and kindness by
those who are termed savages; no savages would have thus thrust
forth a poor woman with a sick child, but would, on the contrary,
have taken care of both. It is only Europeans, who have been
brought up with Christian principles, who assume the right of
treating coloured people according as their whim or fancy may
dictate.
On the 1st and 2nd of November we caught occasional glimpses of the
mainland, as well as of several little islands; but all was flat and
sandy, without the least pretensions to natural beauty. Ten or
twelve ships, some of them East Indiamen of the largest size, were
pursuing the same route as ourselves.
On the morning of the 3rd of November, the sea had already lost its
own beautiful colour, and taken that of the dirty yellow Ganges.
Towards evening we had approached pretty close to the mouths of this
monster river, for some miles previous to our entering which, the
water had a sweet flavour. I filled a glass from the holy stream,
and drank it to the health of all those near and dear to me at home.
At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, we cast anchor before Kadscheri, at
the entrance of the Ganges, it being too late to proceed to
Calcutta, which is sixty nautical miles distant.
