ed to the servants to put it up at
night; but, after this accident, and finding them to be incorrigibly
stupid, lazy, and disobliging, I contented myself with placing the cot
upon two portmanteaus, and thus forming a bed-place. Subsequently, one
of the passengers having kindly adjusted the ropes, Miss E. and myself
contrived to sling it; a fatiguing operation, which added much to the
discomforts of the voyage. The idea of going upon the quarter-deck, or
writing a letter, which might perhaps be handed up to Government, to
make a formal complaint to the captain, was not to be thought of, and
seeing the impossibility of getting any thing properly done by the
tribe of uncouth barbarians dignified by the name of servants, the
only plan was to render myself quite independent of them, and much did
we miss the activity, good humour, and readiness to oblige manifested
by our Egyptian attendant, Mohammed. Where a wish to please is
evinced, though wholly unattended by efficiency in the duties
undertaken by a servant, I can very easily excuse awkwardness,
forgetfulness, or any other fault; but the wretched half-castes, who
take service on board the Government steamers, have not even common
civility to recommend them; there was not a passenger in the vessel
who did not complain of the insults to which all were more or less
subjected.

Where the blame lay, it is difficult to state exactly; no one could be
more kind and obliging than the captain, and it was this disposition
upon his part which rendered us all unwilling to worry him with
complaints. The charge of a steamer in the Red Sea seems quite enough
to occupy the commandant's time and attention, without having the
comforts of seven or eight-and-twenty passengers to look after; but
these duties might have been performed by a clever and active steward.
Whether there was a personage on board of that designation, I never
could learn; I asked several times to speak with him, but he never in
a single instance attended the summons.

We had no reason to complain of want of liberality on the part of the
captain, for the table was plentifully supplied, though the cooks,
being unfortunately most worthy of the patronage of that potentate who
is said to send them to our kitchens, generally contrived to render
the greater portion uneatable. The advantage of rising from table with
an appetite is one which I have usually tried on board ship, having
only in few instances, during my numerous vo