86 
A CUUSADE IN THE EAST. 
Valetta. I saw nothing of this party in my rambles about 
the streets ; but afterward was informed by the Doctor that 
they were fatigued by the voyage, and had spent the time in 
their hotel, which was very comfortable ; the wines were 
excellent; the Madam was “ indispose the mutton uncom¬ 
monly fat and tender ; and altogether they were tres contents 
to repose awhile after the perils and hardships of the voyage. 
I took passage in the French steamer for the Pirseus The 
sea was rough and the weather very unpleasant. Compelled 
as I was, in all my traveling, to take the cheapest places, 
ranging from deck-passages up to the second cabin, I did not 
discover until we were in sight of Greece that my friends Dr. 
Mendoza and the Madam were on board the steamer with 
me again. They had eventually, upon consultation with the 
Portuguese Consul, as to the hotels, concluded to pursue their 
travels to the East. The purse of the Doctor was well lined, 
and of course he spared no pains in making himself and the 
Madam comfortable. Unlike most people with full purses, 
they were generous to a fault; indeed, I was often forced to 
interfere between the Doctor and his guides in order to pre¬ 
vent him from being cheated. If there was any one thing 
that troubled this amiable couple, it was the dreadful and 
unheard-of hardships which they supposed I must encounter 
in my second and third-class passages. Repeatedly melted 
by the pictures of starvation and desolation which they con¬ 
jured up in my behalf (partly because I carried no baggage, 
and partly no doubt on account of my being naturally of a 
meagre habit) the Doctor offered me the use of a hundred 
pounds, payable at any convenient point in the world, or at 
any date however remote ; and I never could make him un¬ 
derstand the philosophy of traveling on the principle of Rough 
and Tumble ; studying bodily deprivations, like Socrates and 
other renowned characters, as a practical science; enjoying 
the luxuries of hardship in European travel by comparison 
with past experience in flat-boats on the Mississippi, whalers 
off Madagascar, and bushing it in California; nor could he 
see how any reasonable man could take pride in such a way 
of traveling, even when that pride was based upon necessity. 
