Our resolute voyager gives an amusing account
of her trials. The fare, for instance, was better adapted for a hermit
than for a lady of gentle nurture; but it was sublimely impartial, being
exactly the same for captain, mate, crew, and passengers. For breakfast
they had wretched tea,--or rather, dirty tea-coloured water,--which the
common hands drank without any sugar. The officers made use of a small
lump of candy, holding it in their mouths, where it melted slowly, while
they swallowed cup after cup to moisten the hard ship-biscuit and rancid
butter.
The dinners, however, showed a daily variation. First, a piece of salted
meat, which, having been soaked and boiled in sea-water, was so
intolerably hard, tough, and salt that it required the digestion of an
ostrich to overtake it. Instead of soup, vegetables, or dessert, barley
grits were served up, plainly boiled, without salt or butter, and eaten
with syrup and vinegar. On the second day, the _piece de resistance_ was
a lump of bacon, boiled in salt water; this was followed by the barley
grits. On the third day, cod-fish and pease; on the fourth, the same
bill of fare as on the first; and so on,--a cup of coffee, without milk,
closing the noonday meal. The evening's repast resembled that of the
morning, consisting of tea-water and ship-biscuit.
So much for the fare.
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