It is pleasant to read of the happy progress of the travellers.
From Julia Margaret Cameron to Alfred and Emily Tennyson.
1875.
‘... I now continue my letter in revived spirits, having left the month of partings behind, and having entered to-day the month of meetings. I think Ewen will send forth my Benjamin to greet me. My Har, endowed with double my prudence, has hitherto prevented me from telegraphing to tell my boys that we had actually started. I resisted at Freshwater. Resisted at Southampton. Hardinge prevented me at Gibraltar, prevented me at Malta. He says Aden is the best spot, for we can then announce we have got over the Red Sea.
‘I need not say how often and often I am with you both in thought. I need not tell you that amidst all this bustling world of 380 people, my husband sits in majesty like a being from another sphere, his white hair shining like the foam of the sea and his white hands holding on each side his golden chain.’
(They travel on to Malta.)
‘A real gem of the ocean; everything glittered like a fairy world, the sapphire sea, the pearl-white houses, the emerald and ruby boats, the shining steps, 132 in number, from the Quai to the town, all was delicious. As Har observed, I was the most childlike and exuberant of the party—only one thing disappointed me, that I did not telegraph to my Ceylon boys. We visited the Cathedral of St. John. How delicious the silence was after the life on board! What a holy joy to kneel down in that solemn silent temple and feel oneself alone with one’s God!’
Her sympathy for the ship’s captain must not be omitted:
‘We have daily prayers and the Sunday evening service is specially imposing, with the dark ocean around, “The lamps filled with everlasting oil” above and the ship lamps hanging on the deck and the one voice, like St. John in the Wilderness, crying to everyone to repent.’
She raises subscriptions for a harmonium on board as a token of gratitude to the captain—‘one in a thousand.’