SCENES IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER I. 
EMBARK FOR MADRAS. A HURRICANE. 
Shortly after the breaking-up of the monsoon, we 
took our passage to Madras in a country ship : it was 
a fine vessel, built of teak, and about six hundred 
tons burthen. Besides our party, there was only one 
passenger, a lady, on her way to join her husband 
who had a command somewhere on the Coromandel 
coast. I occupied a small cabin under the poop, on 
the right-hand side as you entered the cuddy. The 
ship was commanded by an old weather-beaten sea- 
man who had lost an eye, over which he wore a black 
patch, that gave a fierceness to the expression of his 
countenance, naturally rough and grim, by no means 
conciliating. He was besides deeply seamed with the 
small-pox, which imparted to his broad rigid features 
an asperity that repelled courtesy, and rendered him at 
first unpopular among his passengers, though he was 
a prodigious favourite with the crew. The fact was, 
that although his face presented such an unfavourable 
index of the inward man, it was really a false inter- 
B 
