years had sufficed to transform the smiling child, the gay little Hannah, into the tall, pale, pensive, though eminently handsome creature now before me. Married to an officer of the old corps, in which she had first seen the light of day, her husband subsequently exchanged into another regiment; and she was now amongst strangers, with whom, alas! it was shortly decreed by fate that she was to close her brief career. Peace be with her gentle spirit, for she is no more!

Such were my friend and his young bride. I had come from a distant inland station, with a shattered constitution, to embark on medical certificate for Europe, and ever shall I recollect with gratitude, his attention, and the kindness I experienced at the hands of his amiable lady.

“Oh! woman, in our hours of ease
Fickle, coy, and hard to please;
But when affliction sears the brow,
A ministering angel thou!"

She for some time stood attentively scanning the shipping in the roads, then suddenly turning towards us, exclaimed, "Yes, I can

16

BEACH OF MADRAS.

now distinctly see the 'Clémentine,' with the tricolour flag, unfurling her sails and preparing to get under weigh." "Yes, my good friends," replied I, rising, and feeling at the same time a sort of queer choking sensation about the throat, "I fear the sad moment has arrived when I must wish you a long adieu." But I hate parting scenes, even in description; therefore shall cut the matter short by saying that I soon found myself snugly stowed in my palkee, trotting to the musical notes of six sturdy bearers, through the gates, over the portcullis of the fort, and "chulling"* along the broad, smooth and at this evening hourmuch frequented road bordering the beach; sometimes dazzled with the brilliant equipages flitting rapidly by, at others, deafened by the deep sullen roar of the Eastern ocean, which, sounding like distant thunder, breaks with terrific violence on this exposed coast, where its boiling breakers are called, par excellence, "the surf;" and on whose mountain billows

*Anglice, moving forward, progressing.

MASSOOLAH BOAT.

17

nought can for a moment live, save the elastic and buoyant form of the Massoolah boat,* or that of the log-like "Catamaran." The sides of the former are of great depth, to keep out the overwhelming surges; and the vessel itself is so light, that, similar to a sea-bird, it appears to quiver in mid air, as it were, amidst the very spray of the gigantic waves, which bear it along, as if to certain destruction, on the summit of their curling and whitened crests. The launching of the Massoolah boat is of itself an art only to be acquired from constant practice by the naked and hardy mariners who effect it, but even they cannot frequently, with all their expertness, prevent the often alarmed passenger from being drenched to the skin.

The "Catamaran," again, is on quite another principle; the former trusts to its buoyant qualities to exclude the waves; the latter to

* For the sake of greater flexibility, the side planks of these boats, which in shape resemble a walnut-shell, are not fastened in the usual manner, but sewn together with the strong fibres of the cocoa-nut tree.

its impervious nature in resisting their utmost fury. It is composed of three logs of wood securely fastened together, the centre one projecting slightly, in imitation of the shape of a vessel's bow; and in this primitive little skiff its naked navigator will-in his cap made of palmyra leaves, safely and dryly convey letters and despatches through seas which would swamp a line-of-battle-ship, or even a Massoolah boat. I say "through," for on the mathematical principle of a straight line being the shortest distance between two extreme points, this is the usual route followed by the Catamaran when it has to overcome the obstacle presented by a billow of unusual dimensions. Should the Catamaran-Jack (as the Charon of the bark is called) be washed off his deck, the amphibious animal is only dropped into his own element, and speedily regains the little skiff without much fear from sharks, who seem to think that they might,—within the immediate influence of the surf,-stand a chance of being rather overdosed with salt water.

It was under this impression that a very

SHARKS.

sporting fellow of the name of M

19

of

H. M. 30th regiment, used, as his common evening amusement, to ride down to the beach and allow the breakers to wash over both himself and horse, galloping about afterwards in order to-dry his clothes. However, that there are exceptions to this general absence of sharks within the surf has been proved in a tragic manner in more than one instance, by both Europeans and natives having been carried off by the "sea tiger" whilst bathing on the beach of Madras.

It was one of those warm and sultry, yet damp-feeling evenings imparted by the vicinity

* The following sporting anecdote is related of this same officer. Whilst quartered at Hyderabad, he was riding out one morning at daybreak, with a spear in his hand, and the horse-keeper following with a fowlingpiece on passing near the barracks, he perceived a large cheetah, or leopard, stealing off towards the neighbouring rocks. M- immediately put spurs to his horse, gave chase, after a sharp run came up with the animal, transfixed him with his spear, when, dismounting, he pinned him to the ground until the horse-keeper arrived with the gun, whose contents were instantly lodged in the body of the still fierce and struggling foe.