ietest of lambs, and we could well do with a little more wind to
help us on our course.

At noon we were off Calicut, a curious old town of nearly 50,000
inhabitants, to which belong many ancient stories and traditions. As
we all know, it gives its name to that useful and familiar
material--calico. This was the first point of India touched at by
Vasco de Gama nearly 400 years ago, after his long voyage from
Portugal. Not far from Calicut, near Mahe, a high rock rises--one of
the few places in India where sea-swallows build their edible nests.
Further south is Tellicherry, whence the highly appreciated cardamoms
of Waima are exported. The plant (_Amomum repens_) which produces them
is not unlike the ginger shrub in appearance, bearing small
lilac-coloured flowers. Cardamoms are so indispensable in all Indian
cookery that great pains are taken in their cultivation.

On the other side of the river lies Beypoor, one of the terminal
stations of the Southern Indian Railway, whence it is possible to
proceed by rail in almost any direction. Mysore, Bangalore, and
Seringapatam can be easily reached from here; and last, though not by
any means least, one can travel _via_ Pothanore and Metapalliam to
Ootacamund, that loveliest and healthiest of Southern hill stations in
the Neilgherry Mountains, familiarly called 'Ooty.' This delightful
place of refuge restores the enfeebled health of the European, and
makes it possible for husband and wife, parents and children, to be
spared the terrible separations incidental to a career in India; for
the climate of Ootacamund is as cool and invigorating as that of
England.

_March 2nd._--The distance run at noon was 106 knots, the wind during
the previous twenty-four hours having been stronger and more
favourable.

We passed Cochin in the course of the day, but not near enough to see
much of it. It must be an interesting old place, dating, like Calicut,
from the ninth century, or even earlier, with inland waterways to
Quilon and other ports on the Malabar coast, by delightfully smooth
and sheltered backwaters, always navigable for the native boats, even
in the full strength of the monsoon. Trivandaram, the capital of
Travancore, is near this. The Rajah of Travancore on the occasion of
the Great Exhibition of 1851 sent our Queen a most beautifully carved
ivory chair, made in his own dominions, which her Majesty now uses
whenever she holds a Chapter of the Order of the Garter at Windsor.