INTRODUCTORY. 3 



easy matter to watcli that inoiintain of luggage, which, 

 consigned to the agents the previous evening by rigid 

 order of the Company, was now arriving on board in great 

 masses ; and it required all our eyes to watch every article 

 as it was passed rapidly from the ship's side to the gaping 

 hold which yawned beneath, if we desired to rescue our 

 own particular bag or portmanteau for present use. And as 

 we stood by that bustling throng, and admired the activity 

 of the sailors, and the order, even in the midst of so much 

 confusion, which the officers maintained, we seemed to be 

 suddenly brought face to face with another hemisphere, as 

 we read the destination of the great bulk of baggage which 

 was being passed so rapidly into the hold ; and as we saw 

 painted in large letters on the several cases, 'Bahia,' 

 ' Monte Video,' * Pernambuco,' ^ Eio de Janeiro,' ' Buenos 

 Ayres,' we seemed indeed to be breathing another atmo- 

 sphere, and South America stood out more vividly before 

 our minds than ever before. 



And now, having duly witnessed the interment of our 

 more bulky impedimenta in the great grave which gaped 

 below, and having secured our smaller effects and de- 

 posited them in our pleasant and airy, albeit diminutive 

 cabin, we proceeded to reconnoitre our position, and to 

 ramble over the great vessel which was to be our tem- 

 porary home for some days. No wonder she seemed 

 colossal from the shore and from the river ; no wonder we 

 felt bewildered as we climbed her many staircases and 

 traversed her many decks ; for the Shannon is the largest 

 of all the ships on the Koyal Mail Steam Packet Com- 

 pany's list, and even the smallest of the Brazil boats is 

 of greater tonnage than the biggest in the employ of the 

 Peninsular and Oriental Company. I will not say that 

 the Shannon is a trim, taut, handsome ship : I will not 

 compare her, for elegance and finish, with her sisters which 

 ply between Southampton and the East ; but this I will 



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