I was paying 10 pounds sterling for a thirty-six
hour's passage; and as I always treated everybody courteously, it
was quite uncalled for and unprovoked. I thought it exceedingly
impertinent, and told the captain so. Nevertheless he did not trouble
to inquire into the matter. The Bishop of Ascalon, Vicar-Apostolic at
Bombay, was on board, and I told him about it, and he said that he had
been treated just in the same way a year before on the same spot. The
idea that such things should be allowed is a little too outrageous.
Suppose that I had been a delicate and nervous passenger with heart
complaint, it might have done me a great deal of harm.
A large boat arrived to take us and our baggage ashore. We were cast
adrift in the open sea on account of a doubtful shoal. We had eight
miles to row before we could reach Goa. Fortunately there was no storm.
We rowed a mile and a half of open sea, five miles of bay, and one and a
half of winding river, and at last landed on a little stone pier jutting
a few yards into the water. We found a total absence of anything at
Goa but the barest necessaries of life. There was no inn and no tent.
We had either to sleep in our filthy open boat, or take our tents and
everything with us. Goa is not healthy enough to sleep out _al fresco_.
Fortunately a kind-hearted man, who was the agent of the steamers, and
his wife, seeing the plight we were in, conceded us a small room in
their house with their only spare bed.
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