We had no reason to complain of want of liberality on the part of the captain, for the table was plentifully supplied, though the cooks, being unfortunately most worthy of the patronage of that potentate who is said to send them to our kitchens, generally contrived to render the greater portion uneatable.  The advantage of rising from table with an appetite is one which I have usually tried on board ship, having only in few instances, during my numerous voyages, been fortunate enough to find food upon which I dared to venture.

The more I have seen of government ships, the more certain I feel that they are not adapted to carry passengers.  The authorities appear to think that people ought to be too thankful to pay an enormous price for the worst species of accommodation.  The commandants have not been accustomed to attend to the minutiae which can alone secure the comfort of those who sail with them, while the officers, generally speaking, endeavour to show their contempt of the service in which they are sent, against their inclination, by neglect and even rudeness towards the passengers.

While on board the Berenice, the following paragraph in a Bombay newspaper struck my eye, and as it is a corroboration of the statements which I deem it to be a duty to make, I insert it in this place.  “The voyager (from Agra) must not think his troubles at an end on reaching Bombay, or that the steam-packets are equal to the passenger Indiaman in accommodation.  In fact, I cannot conceive how a lady manages; we have, however, five.  There are only seven very small cabins, into each of which two people are crammed; no room to swing cats.  Eight other deluded individuals, of whom I am one, are given to understand that a cabin-passage is included in permission to sleep on the benches and table of the cuddy.  For this you pay Rs. 200 extra.  The vessel is dirty beyond measure, from the soot, and with the difficulty of copious ablution and private accommodation, is almost worse, to a lover of Indian habits, than the journey to Bombay from Agra upon camels.  No civility is to be got from the officers.  If they are not directly uncivil, the passengers are luckier than we have been.  They declare themselves disgusted with passenger ships, but do not take the proper way of showing their superiority to the duty.”

The only officer of the Berenice who dined at the captain’s table was the surgeon of the vessel, and in justice to him it must be said, that he left no means untried to promote the comfort of the passengers.  It is likewise necessary to state, that we were never put upon an allowance of water, although, in consequence of late alterations made in the dockyard, the vessel had been reduced to about half the quantity she had been accustomed to carry in iron tanks constructed for the purpose.  Notwithstanding this reduction, we could always procure a sufficiency, either of hot or cold water, for ablutions, rendered doubly necessary in consequence of the atmosphere of coal-dust which we breathed.  Not that it was possible to continue clean for a single hour; nevertheless, there was some comfort in making the attempt.