ATTAH. 77 



amiability ; he had unrestrained ingress to the ship, 

 to oiu" mess, and to our cabins, and was never a 

 burden because he had withal such innate good sense, 

 I may even say delicacy of perception, that we were 

 never under fear of his intrusion when preoccupied, 

 nor of interference in our communications with others; 

 if he found or thought himself de trop, he would 

 either quietly seek some other locality, or seat himself> 

 like a half-pay lieutenant in the waiting-room at the 

 Admii'alty, to await the leisure of those he sought, 

 studying the objects around, which were already as 

 familiar to him as the furniture of the aforesaid 

 waiting-room is to myself, mth a degree of interest 

 and attention only justified by his want of occupation. 

 Now for his worthy spouse. Attah was what is 

 very generally called " exceedingly plain," which 

 means, I suppose, plainly ugly ; any juvenile charms, 

 any dimpled beauties which might have graced her 

 visage in more favourable seasons, had fled for ever : 

 wrinkles and puckers held despotic sway there, now 

 rendered less inviting by long accumulations of dirt, 

 for Attah was regardless of the greatest of human 

 comforts, and was ever in a sad condition of untidi- 

 ness and filth. Attah's own definition of herself 

 would probably have led one to imagine that her 

 disposition was of the most obliging nature, that her 



