ON SHIPBOARD. 
63 
Lunch consists of the t; rice table/’ such as I 
described when writing from Batavia ; then 
about 3, when people begin to rise from the 
sofas on deck, and emerge from cabins after 
the siesta, tea is ready. When the afternoon 
heat has sufficiently passed to make it possible, 
all go down to dress in European attire. When 
we return to deck, the beautiful sunset hour 
has come with a cool breeze, and it is customary 
to walk to and fro on the deck till the liqueur- 
stand reminds us that we must soon go down 
to dine. After dinner at 7.30, the European 
dress is quickly discarded, and all seek retired 
nooks on the dimly lighted deck to enjoy the 
evening wind. You can have no idea of the 
lassitude felt at the close of a day on shipboard 
in the tropics. One gets very disinclined for 
exercise towards the end of a protracted voyage, 
and it becomes more and more difficult to occupy 
ones self in any way. I sometimes wish 1 had 
not promised to take you with me in my travels ! 
I forget if I told you that children of both 
sexes play all day in a sort of very loose “ com- 
bination,” of striped calico generally, their sole 
garment,— for not even shoes and stockings do 
they wear. But one cannot grudge them the 
comfort of this simple costume : think how 
