I remember too, on one or two occasions, when we were
riding out Meccawards, my horse was so thin and the girths so large that
my saddle came round with me, and I had a spill on the sand, which
greatly delighted the boys, but did not hurt me.
I was so sorry to part with them all; we were good friends together.
But after eight exceedingly pleasant days at Jeddah we received notice
to embark, and we had to say good-bye and go on board the _Calypso_.
The sea was very rough, and I sat on a chair lashed to the deck. The
_Calypso_ was bound for Bombay, and had taken on board at Jeddah and
stowed away some eight hundred pilgrims, who were returning to India from
Mecca. They were packed like cattle, and as the weather was very rough
the poor pilgrims suffered terribly. The waves were higher than the
ship. I crawled about as well as I could, and tried to help the pilgrims
a little. The second day one of them died, and was buried at sunset. I
shall never forget that funeral at sea. They washed the body, and then
put a strip of white stuff round the loins, and a bit of money to show
that he is not destitute when he arrives in the next world. Then they
tied him up in a sheet, and with his head and feet tied he looked just
like a big white cracker. He was then laid upon a shutter with a five-
pound bar of iron bound to his feet, and after a short Arabic prayer they
took him to the side and hurled him over.
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