NOTES ON PASSENGERS AND OFFICERS. 37 



my head against it, but it reminds me unpleasantly of the frailty of human things. It is 

 very thin, and yet, if I am to believe the engineer, it is this bar alone which, in very bad 

 weather, prevents the enormous shell of the boat from breaking in half. There are 

 moments when one's life hangs on a thread ; here it hangs on an iron bar. That is 

 better, perhaps, but it is not enough/'' 



The fine vessels of the company then running were, although perhaps the most com- 

 modious in the world, hardly the safest. The distance between San Francisco and Japan 

 is 5,000 miles, and, barring a few hundred miles on the coasts of the latter, the ocean is 

 almost one grand calm lake. But cyclones occur in the Japanese seas when the high-built 

 American boats are not safe. 



Baron Hiibner gives us some notes on the passengers on board, which included nine 

 nationalities. Among them was a dignified and venerable Parsee merchant, a merchant 

 prince in his way, who had wished to study European manners, and so had proceeded as 

 far as San Francisco. What he saw there impressed him so unfavourably, that he imme- 

 diately took passage back again. What he observed, indeed, filled him with disgust. "The 

 men/' said he, " what a lack of dignity ! Never in the streets of our towns will you 

 be shocked by the sight of drunkards and bad women/' 



Hiibner gives also some sketches of the officers on board. The chief engineer is 

 described as a thoughtful and meditative man a Boman Catholic, deeply imbued with the 

 spirit of religious fervour, and spending his time in the alternate study of theology and 

 practical mechanics. His cabin, opening on the one side to the deck and on the other to the 

 machinery, contained a well- selected, though small, library of scientific and classical books, 

 and was adorned by pots of flowers, which he managed to keep alive by constant care, 

 in spite of the sea-breezes, for they had been given to him by his young and beautiful 

 wife, whose portrait hung upon the wall. For a couple of weeks only in each three 

 months could he see his better half. 



" Sweetly blows the western wind 



Softly o'er the rippling sea, 

 And thy sailor's constant mind 



Ever turns to thee. 

 Though the north wind may arise, 



And the waves dash madly by, 

 Though the storm should rend the skies, 



And vivid lightnings round me fly ; 

 Then I love thee more and more, 



Then art thou more dear to me, 

 And I sigh for that dear shore 



Distant o'er the sea." 



The Baron describes the waiters on board as follows : " The head waiter is a native 

 of Hamburg. He and his white comrade lead an easy life; they confine their labours to 

 overlooking the Chinese men, and pass the rest of their time in flirting with the ladies'- 

 maids. These are the only two idlers in the service. Thirty-two Chinamen do the duties 

 of waiters on the passengers and at table. Although short, they look well enough with 

 their black caps, their equally black pig-tails, which go down to their heels, their dark- 



