There was
just room on deck for me to sit on a box, and the obliging,
gentlemanly master, who, with his son and myself, were the only
whites on board, sat on the taffrail.
The Jenny spread her white duck sails, glided gracefully away from
the wharf, and bounded through the coral reef; the red sunlight
faded, the stars came out, the Honolulu light went down in the
distance, and in two hours the little craft was out of sight of land
on the broad, crisp Pacific. It was so chilly, that after admiring
as long as I could, I dived into the cabin, a mere den, with a
table, and a berth on each side, in one of which I lay down, and the
other was alternately occupied by the captain and his son. But
limited as I thought it, boards have been placed across on some
occasions, and eleven whites have been packed into a space six feet
by eight! The heat and suffocation were nearly intolerable, the
black flies swarming, the mosquitos countless and vicious, the fleas
agile beyond anything, and the cockroaches gigantic. Some of the
finer cargo was in the cabin, and large rats, only too visible by
the light of a swinging lamp, were assailing it, and one with a
portentous tail ran over my berth more than once, producing a
stampede among the cockroaches each time.
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