16th.—Visited the Mint, and was much interested in the process of coining and assaying. We quitted our friends after sunset, and were taken in a Masulla boat very cleverly through the three ranges of surf, perfectly unwetted, to the “Robarts.” The days are very hot, the evenings cool and delicious: to-night there is not a ripple on the sea.
The fresh sea breeze blowing in upon me made me sleep delightfully, and I was free from the annoyance of musquitoes, whose bites worried me on shore. When we reach Calcutta, how much we shall miss the evening breeze from the sea, which is so delightful at Madras!
17th.—Sunday,—crowds of natives on board, Sunday being the great day of business with them: they brought grapes, which were delicious. I purchased a saw-fish, a sting-ray, or bat-fish, a sea-porcupine, a halfmoon-fish, and some others.
“Mem want some she-asses?” “What?” “She-asses, Mem; many got, Mem buy, I bring she-asses.” They turned out to be sea-horses, which appear to be abundant at Madras, as well as all sorts of monstrous and queer fish. A juggler on board was displaying some of his tricks. He finished by sitting down on the deck, when he passed the blade of a sword down his throat, as far as the hilt, and during the time the blade was in his body, he let off fireworks, which were on the four corners of two pieces of wood that were fixed in the form of a cross on the hilt of the sword, and which spun round upon it. It was a disgusting sight, and an unpleasant one, as it sometimes causes the death of the juggler. Some of the passengers, on their return to the “Robarts,” complained much of the heat, and of the musquitoes on shore, also of the badness of the inns, which are not sufficiently good to aspire to the name of hotels. The daunās or donies, as we call them, are numerous at Madras; they are country vessels, coasters, and traders, and are commanded by a sarhang, who wears the undress of the katmiram men; the crews are native—the vessels are short, thick, clumsy, and marvellously ugly.
It is interesting to trace the descendants of Milton; his grandson was parish-clerk of Fort St. George, at a very remote period. Milton’s youngest and favourite daughter Deborah married a Mr. Clarke; she is said to have been a woman of cultivated understanding, and not unpleasing manners; known to Richardson and patronized by Addison, who procured a permanent provision for her from Queen Caroline. Her only son Caleb Clarke went to Madras in the first years of the eighteenth century, and it appears from an examination of the Parish Register of Fort St. George that he was parish-clerk there from 1717 to 1719, and was buried there on the 26th of October of the latter year.
22nd.—Captain Elder, finding the wind would not answer for getting out beyond the shipping, turned the head of the “Robarts” in shore, and cut through a crowd of donies, country vessels, in great style. We sailed from Madras with a delightful breeze, and were glad to resume our voyage. The captain brought me a present of a remarkably large globe-fish, a globular fish, covered with very sharp prickles; it has the beak of a parrot, and is, I understand, also called the parrot-fish.
23rd.—The ship going nearly ten knots an hour, and as steady as if she were at anchor: how I enjoy the sea breeze! what health, strength, and spirits it gives me!
24th.—At sunset we passed close to Vizagapatam, the range of distant blue mountains was very beautiful, contrasted with the red volcanic-looking hills on the sea-shore.
25th.—Anchored off Pooree: the view of the station from the sea is remarkable: on the left the temple of Jaganāth stands a high and conspicuous object. The houses are built along the shore on the sands, and close to the beach, where the surf rolls for ever with great violence. It is a beautiful sight to watch a Masulla boat rising and sinking as she comes over and through the surfs, of which there appear to be three regular ranges, and which roll with greater violence than the surf at Madras. Few vessels ever anchor at Pooree. I think they told me a ship had not been there for three years. The “Robarts” anchored there to land Colonel and Mrs. G⸺; they went on shore in a Masulla boat, their carriage and horses were landed on a raft.