of an Orchid Hunter. 7 



extended the whole length of each side at a sufficient 

 distance from each other to admit of a plate being 

 firmly wedged between the two, leaving room at 

 the corners for all indispensable table utensils. The 

 dishes containing the food were arranged in a line 

 along the middle of the table, each dish partitioned off 

 from his neighbour by a capacious bolster of serviettes ; 

 but even this contrivance did not prevent the chicken 

 from dexterously changing places with the sardines, 

 or the butter becoming irretrievably mixed with the 

 curry, in a way which, even considering the extraor- 

 dinary motion of the ship, appeared perfectly ludi- 

 crous. An attempt to avoid an overbalance by 

 clutching your chair with both hands (which chair, 

 by the way, is screwed securely to the floor) would 

 result in the upsetting of a cup of hot coffee into your 

 lap, or the inundation of your plate by the contents 

 of an adjoining water-bottle. 



On retiring to my cabin in the evening, I was 

 greeted from the surrounding partitions with most 

 unearthly sounds of choking. On inquiry, I was in- 

 formed that all the ladies on board had been attacked 

 with that uncomfortable disorder of the nerves or 

 stomach called sea-sickness, which effectually confined 

 them to their cabins for the ensuing week. And now 

 how to sleep in a bedroom performing such extra- 

 ordinary antics was a problem not easily solved. It 



