MULES. 
5 
ing bidden adieu to all her officers, we sailed that night 
for Zanzibar in H.M/s steam-ship Brisk, 16 guns, Cap- 
tain De Horsey. Sir Henry Keppel and Staff, on a tour 
of inspection, were also on board. The first night was 
one of intense discomfort. We were shut up within the 
walls of a screen-berth 1 0 feet by 1 0, the cots bumping 
against each other, a rolling sea, and half-a-dozen mules 
kicking and neighing in their misery all night long, 
and directly overhead. The officers, however, were ex- 
tremely kind, and their wardroom so cheerful, that we 
soon forgot these midnight annoyances. Every morn- 
ing a man named Long, a sailor, who said " he knew 
how to manage mules, as his mother kept a team," 
would report that the mules were " all alive." This 
was very superfluous news, for we had been hearing 
their music overhead all night. Often at dinner- 
time Long would take the favourable opportunity of 
exercising his mules about the deck, and giving the 
middies a chance of a ride. At roll-call of a Sun- 
day, some of the names of the crew sounded very 
oddly. For instance, three Kroomen dignified them- 
selves with the titles of " King John," " Soda-water," 
and "Prince of Wales;" while my servant answered to 
the name of "April." He was a jet-black man, and 
one of the " Tots" (Hottentots), whose first essay as 
valet much amused us. I had never had pillow-slips 
on board, and he, thinking that I ought to possess 
them, found one for me the first night in the shape of 
my empty clothes-bag — a feat most creditable to his 
ingenuity and sense of cleanliness. On the 27th of 
July this same gentleman, while in Delagoa Bay, landed 
in green velvet shooting-coat, tight jockey-trousers, 
and neat regimental cap — quite a swell in compari- 
