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well-dressed people promenading about, listening to the music. The prince's elephant was there too, and afforded a good deal of amusement. How the poor brute was slung out of the "Galatea," got on shore, and got back on shipboard again, was to me a mystery.

I went down to the steamer at the appointed time of sailing, but found that the "City" was not to leave for several hours after time. The mail express was to wait until Mr. and Mrs. Bandman-who had been acting in Auckland had received some presentation from the officers of the "Galatea !" It seemed odd that a mail steamer should be delayed some hours to suit the convenience of a party of actors. But there are strange doings connected with this mail line. Time is of little moment here, and in New Zealand I suspect time is even less valued than usual. They tell me that few mails leave New Zealand without having to wait on some pretext or another. There does not seem to be the same activity, energy, and business aptitude that exists in the Australian colonies. The Auckland people seem languid and half asleep. Perhaps their soft, relaxing, winterless climate has something to do with it.

Having nothing else to occupy me before the ship sailed, I took leave of my Australian friend, gave him my last messages for Maryborough and Majorca, and went on board. I was wakened up about midnight by the noise of the anchor coming up, and in a few minutes more we were off and on our way to Honolulu, up the Pacific.

CHAPTER XX.

UP THE PACIFIC.

Departure for Honolulu.—Monotony of a Voyage by Steam.-Desagrémens.-The "Gentlemen" Passengers.--The one Second-class "Lady." --The Rats on Board.--The Smells.-Flying Fish.-Cross the Line.— Treatment of Newspapers on Board.-Hawaii in Sight.-Arrival at Honolulu.

WHEN I went on deck next morning we had left New Zealand far behind us; not a speck of land was to be seen, and we were fairly on our way to Honolulu. We have before us a clear run of about four thousand miles, and if our machinery and coal keep good, we know that we shall do it easily in about seventeen days.

Strange though it may seem, there is much greater monotony in a voyage on board a steamer than there is on board a sailing vessel. There is nothing like the same interest felt in the progress of the ship, and thus one unfailing topic of conversation and speculation is shut out. There are no baffling winds, no sleeping calms, alternating with a joyous and invigorating run before the wind, such as we had when coming out, from Plymouth to the Cape. We only know that we shall do our average ten miles an hour, be the weather what it may. If the wind is blowing astern, we run before it; if ahead, we run through it. Fair or foul, it matters but little.

A voyage by a steamer, compared with one by sailing ship, is what a journey by railway train is to a drive across

country in a well-horsed stage-coach. There is, however, this to be said in favor of the former. We know that, monotonous though it be, it is very much sooner over; and on a voyage of some thousands of miles, we can calculate to a day, and almost to an hour, when we shall arrive at our destination.

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But to be set against the shorter time consumed on the voyage there are numerous little desagrémens. There is the dismal, never-ending grind, grind of the screw, sometimes, when the ship rolls, and the screw is out of the water, going round with a horrible birr. At such times

the vessel has a double motion, pitching and rolling, and thereby occasioning an inexpressibly sickly feeling. Then, when the weather is hot, there is the steam of heated oil wafted up from the engine-room, which, mingled with the smell of bilge, and perhaps cooking, is any thing but agreeable or appetizing. I must also acknowledge that a second-class berth, which I had taken, is not comparable in point of comfort to a first, not only as regards the company, but as regards smells, food, and other sur

roundings.

There are not many passengers at my end, and the few there are do not make themselves very agreeable. First, there are two German Jews, grumbling and growling at every thing. They are a couple of the most cantankerous fellows I ever came across-never done knagging, swearing, grunting, and bellowing. They keep the steward, who is an obliging sort of fellow, in a state of constant "wax," which, when I want any thing done for me, I have to remedy by tipping; so that they are likely to prove somewhat costly companions, though in a peculiar way.

Next there is a German-Yankee, a queer old fellow, who came on board at Auckland. He seems to have made some money at one of the New Zealand goldfields called "The Serpentine," somewhere near Dunedin. This old fellow and I cotton together very well. He is worth a dozen of the other two Germans. He had been all through the American War under Grant, and spins some long yarns about the Northerners and the "cussed rebs."

As there are twenty-seven bunks in our cabin and only four passengers, there is, of course, plenty of room and

to spare; but there is also a "lady" passenger at our end of the ship, and she has all the fifteen sleeping-places in her cabin to herself. It might be supposed that, there being only one lady, she would be in considerable demand with her fellow-passengers; but it was quite the contrary. Miss Ribbids, as I will call her, proved to be a most uninteresting individual. I am sorry to have to confess to so much ungallantry; but the only effort which I made, in common with the others, was to avoid her-she was so hopelessly dense. One night she asked me, quite seriously, "If that was the same moon they had at Sydney!" I am sure she does not know that the earth is round. By stretching a hair across the telescope glass, I made her look in and showed her the Line, but she did not see the joke. She gravely asked if we should not land at the Line: she understood there was land there! Her only humor is displayed at table, when any thing is spilled by the rolling of the ship, when she exclaims, "Over goes the apple-cart!" But enough of the awful Miss Ribbids.

There are, however, other passengers aboard that must not be forgotten-the rats! I used to have a horror of rats, but here I soon became used to them. The first night I slept on board I smelt something very disgusting as I got into my bunk, and at last I discovered that it arose from a dead rat in the wainscot of the ship. My nose being somewhat fastidious as yet, I moved to the other side of the cabin. But four kegs of strong-smelling butter sent me quickly out of that. I then tried a bunk next to the German Jews, but I found proximity to them was the least endurable of all; and so, after many changes, I at last came back and slept contentedly

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