Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/36

26 the rain was ankle-deep upon the deck; our fat second mate, then, coolly seating himself on the deck, with the water flowing around him, and washing the tar out of his blue jean pants, bailed it up with a bucket and handed it to the bare-footed men who passed it to the watercask. Although the first gush of the shower had been suffered to wash the deck and run off by the scuppers, yet, when our “fresh water” was served to us at the table, there was a flavour of salt, tar, and various other elements, that made it plainly a different thing from that which is known as fresh water on shore. In a few days its smell, colour, and taste became so odious, that it was unanimously banished from our cabin.

Our days and weeks were not passed in idleness. Sometimes the motion of the ship was so violent, that it was as much as we could do to hold on to the rail and watch the waves; but in ordinary weather we found a variety of occupations with which pleasantly and profitably to fill up our time. After our morning devotions and breakfast, we turned to our grammars to make a beginning in the languages in which we were to teach the Hindus. The afternoons were spent in reading, writing, singing, and