As I said before, the provisions were execrable; the remnants of the first cabin were sent to us poor wretches. Two or three different things would very often be side by side in the most friendly and brotherly manner upon one dish, even although their character was widely different; that was looked upon as a matter of no import, which was also the case as to whether the things came to table hot or cold.
On one occasion, during tea, the head cook was in unusually good humour, and remarked, “I spare no possible pains to provide for you. I hope you want for nothing.” Two of the passengers, Englishmen, replied, “No, that’s true!” The third, who was a Portuguese, did not understand the importance of the assertion. As a native of Germany, not possessing the patriotic feeling of an English subject in the matter, I should have replied very differently had I not been a women, and if, by so replying, I could have effected a change for the better.
The only light we had was from a piece of tallow candle, that often went out by eight o’clock. We were then under the necessity of sitting in the dark or going to bed.
In the morning the cabin served as a barber’s shop, and in the afternoon as a dormitory, where the cooks and servants, who were half dead with sleep, used to come and slumber on the benches.
In order to render us still more comfortable, one of the officers pitched upon our cabin as quarters for two young puppies, who did nothing but keep up one continued howl; he would not have dared to put them in the sailors’ cabin, because the latter would have kicked them out without farther ceremony.
My description will, in all probability, be considered exaggerated, especially as there is an old opinion that the English are, above all other people, justly celebrated for their comfort and cleanliness. I can, however, assure my readers that I have spoken nothing but the truth; and I will even add that, although I have made many voyages on board steam-ships, and always paid second fare, never did I pay so high a price for such wretched and detestable treatment. In all my life I was never so cheated. The only circumstance on board the ship to which I can refer with pleasure was the conduct of the officers, who were, without exception, obliging and polite.
I was very much struck with the remarkable degree of patience exhibited by my fellow-passengers. I should like to know what an Englishman, who has always got the words “comfort” and “comfortable” at the top of his tongue, would say, if he were treated in this manner on board a steamer belonging to any other nation?
For the first few days of our voyage we saw no land, and it was not until the 28th of August that we caught sight of the rocky coast of Cochin China. During the whole of the 29th we steered close along the coast, but could see no signs of either human beings or habitations, the only objects visible being richly wooded mountain-ranges; in the evening, however, we beheld several fires, which might have been mistaken for the signals from lighthouses, and proved that the country was not quite uninhabited.
During the following day we only saw a large solitary rock called “The Shoe.” It struck me as being exactly like the head of a shepherd’s dog.
On the 2nd of September we neared Malacca. Skirting the coast are tolerably high, well-wooded mountain-ranges, infested, according to all accounts, by numerous tigers, that render all travelling very dangerous.