383 NAVIGATION. 



an extra sum beyond the regulation, both for his wife's 

 passage and for a cabin. Ladies should have all their mil- 

 linery, gloves, &c., which they do not intend to use on the 

 voyage, packed in air-tight tin cases, soldered up. A piano 

 should be packed in blankets ; and a silk cover, lined with 

 a blanket, is the most useful kind of cover in India for a 

 piano. A Broadwood grand piano, secured for the climate, 



the best description of instrument. Those of the com- 

 mon kind sometimes go to pieces in a single night during 

 the prevalence of hot winds. The action of the hot wind 

 on furniture, particularly on musical instruments, is very 

 remarkable, and makes "it highly necessary to have both 

 well secured by clamps, and properly packed. Solid ma- 

 hogany, covered with leather, having spare brown Holland 

 covers, is best adapted for the voyage ; and to those who 

 can afford it handsome furniture of this description viill 

 be very acceptable after reaching India. Oil-cloth is the 

 best and coolest thing for the cabin-floor, and is very much 

 used for the same purpose in India. A cadet who has a 

 cabin to himself should furnish and fit it in such a manner 

 that his equipment will be equally adapted for a tent. 



Parents who have children destined for India would do 

 well to consider that in all Hindostan Proper there is not 

 an inn or hotel to which it is usual for ladies or gentlemen 

 to resort, except in cases of urgent necessity. Even in 

 Calcutta the taverns are commonly called punch-houses. 

 This is a very evident proof of the liberal scale of Indian 

 hospitality. It therefore becomes the duty of parents, par- 

 ticularly in the case of a young lady, to place beyond all 

 doubt the certainty of her reception at the house of a friend 

 or acquaintance actually residing at the presidency to which 

 she is going. And it should never be forgotten that some 

 of the stations in India are 1000 miles distant from the 

 different presidencies, which makes it extremely desirable 

 (if the relations or friends she is going to reside at one of 

 the distant stations) to have an understanding before she 

 leaves England, that there shall be some friend ready to re- 

 ceive her on the day of the ship's arrival. Cadets, on land- 

 ing, by reporting themselves to the town-major, are imme- 

 diately provided with quarters. 



The cabins of private traders vary in size and arrange- 



