leven or twelve days' steaming, and the young
lady was not difficult to please, it was no great matter.

During the first portion of the voyage she became well acquainted with
Phileas Fogg, and gave expression to her great gratitude on every
occasion. That phlegmatic gentleman listened to her protestations with
the most unmoved exterior, not an expression, not a movement evidenced
the slightest emotion; but he took care that the young lady should
want for nothing. He saw her at certain hours every day, if not to
talk, at least to listen to her conversation; he exhibited towards her
the greatest politeness, but the politeness of an automaton. Mrs.
Aouda did not know what to think of him, though Passe-partout had
given her a few hints about his eccentric master, and had told her of
the wager about going round the world. Mrs. Aouda had rather ridiculed
the idea, but after all did she not owe him her life? And Mr. Fogg
would not lose by being regarded through the glasses of gratitude.

Mrs. Aouda confirmed the Parsee guide's explanation of her past
history. She was, in fact, of the highest native caste.

Many Parsee merchants had made great fortunes in cotton in India. One
of them, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, has been made a baronet by the
English Government, and Mrs. Aouda was connected with this personage,
who was then living in Bombay. It was a cousin of his whom she hoped
to join at Hong Kong, and with whom she trusted to find protection.
She could not say whether she would be received or not; but Mr. Fogg
told her not to trouble herself, as all would come mathematically
square. These were the words he used. It was uncertain whether the
young lady quite understood him. She fixed her great eyes--"those eyes
as limpid as the sacred lakes of the Himalayas"--upon him; but Mr.
Fogg was as impassive as ever, and did not show any disposition to
throw himself into those lakes.

The first portion of the voyage passed very pleasantly. Everything was
favourable. The _Rangoon_ soon sighted the great Andaman, with its
picturesque mountain called Saddle Peak, two thousand four hundred
feet high, a landmark for all sailors. They skirted the coast, but
they saw none of the inhabitants. The appearance of the islands was
magnificent. Immense forests of palm, teak, and gigantic mimosas
(tree-ferns), covered the foreground of the landscape, while at the
back rose the undulating profile of the hills. The cliffs swarmed with
that species of