the
green seas which we shipped over the bows. The _Raja Brooke_, however,
behaved uncommonly well throughout, and by sundown there was nothing
left of the turmoil but a long, heavy swell, which, judging from the
groans we heard forward, was playing the very deuce with the internal
economy of the pilgrims! We reached Singapore in forty-nine hours,
notwithstanding the storm and adverse wind--a wonderfully quick run.

We accepted an invitation from the Dutch Consul to dinner the evening
before our departure for Batavia, as we were anxious to obtain as much
information as possible about Java; and the dinner being given in
honour of the officers of a Dutch man-of-war then lying in the roads,
we thought this a first-rate opportunity, but were doomed to
disappointment. On our arrival "schnapps" before the feast had
evidently been too much for them, and ere dinner was over they were
all--to use a mild expression--overcome.

We left them at midnight to go on board our steamer, embracing each
other and singing "Die Wacht am Rhein" at the top of their voice--a
performance hardly appreciated, I should imagine, by the occupants of
the adjoining bungalows.

On arrival at the wharf, which our gharry driver had no little
difficulty in finding in the darkness, we were much disappointed to
find that the Messageries vessel had broken down, and that a small
Dutch steamer, belonging to the Nederland Indische Stoomship Co., was
to be her substitute for that voyage, and still more disgusted were we
when shown into a stuffy little cabin containing three bunks, in one
of which a fat Dutchman had already retired to rest, the other two
being L.'s and my resting-place. We made the best of a bad job,
however, and turned in, but not for long; certain animals, which shall
be nameless, had already taken up their quarters in the berths, and
resented our intrusion with such good effect that they drove us out of
the little cabin and on deck, where, the weather being fine, we slept
on the skylight the three remaining nights we stayed on board.

The days went by very wearily, for there was literally nothing to do
on board; the passengers were all Dutch, speaking no English, and very
little French; the _cuisine_ on board was composed principally of
grease, and what smelt like train-oil, add to this that the highest
rate of speed ever attained by the _Minister Frausen von der Putte_
was seven knots an hour, and I think the reader will agree with me
th