Steam Navigation Company (usually
known as the P. & O.), which receives an annual subsidy from the
Government to carry the mails to India and Australia. We cast off from
the quay, and in about an hour's time are slowly drawing out between the
ends of the harbour breakwaters; then the steamer glides more quickly
over the bay between innumerable vessels under different flags, and
Bombay lies behind us with its large houses, its churches, towers, and
chimneys, and its dense forest of ships' masts.

Soon the city has disappeared and we are out on the Indian Ocean. The
weather is fine; there is no sea on, only the faintest swell; sailing
boats lie motionless waiting for a wind, and only a faint breeze renews
the air under the awnings of the promenade deck. It is so warm and
sultry that starched shirts and collars become damp and limp after a
couple of hours. We gradually draw off from the coast, but still the
mountain chain known as the Western Ghats, which extends to the southern
extremity of India, is visible.

Next morning we leave Goa behind, and at noon have the Laccadive group
of islands to starboard. The coast of India is still in sight--a belt of
sand, over which the surf rolls in from the sea, surmounted by a fringe
of coco-palms. On the morning of October 17 we pass the southernmost
point of India, Cape Comorin. Here our course is changed to southeast,
and about midday the coast of Ceylon can be distinguished on the
horizon. From a long distance we can see the white band of breakers
dashing against the beach, and as we approach closer a forest of steamer
funnels, sails, and masts, and beyond them a long row of Asiatic and
European buildings. That is Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, and a very
important port for all vessels which ply between Europe and the Far
East. Gently the _Delhi_ enters the passage between the harbour moles,
and is at once surrounded by a fleet of rowing boats from the shore.
Singalese and Hindus swarm up the gangways, and throw themselves with
much jabbering on the traveller's possessions. They are scantily clothed
with only a shirt or a white sash round the loins and a cloth or a comb
on the head.

We go on shore and find in the principal streets of the town a curious
jumble of copper-brown coloured people, carriages, tramways, and small,
two-wheeled "rickshas" which are pulled by half-naked men. The huts of
the natives and the dwelling-houses of the Europeans nestle among groves
of the sle