This Ship Was In
Quarantine, And It Was Consequently Necessary To Take Some Precautions
In Going On Board.
We proceeded, in the first instance, to a police
station, where we took a second boat in tow, and a guadiano, an
official appointed to see that no persons transgress the rules and
regulations of the port instituted for the preservation of health.
Upon getting alongside of the Volcano, our baggage was placed in
this boat; Miss E. and myself were then handed in, and cast adrift, to
my great astonishment; for not having had any previous intimation of
the method to be pursued, I was not at all prepared to hold on, as I
believe it is called, without assistance. Miss E., however, who was
more observant, hooked her parasol into one of the ropes, which
she subsequently caught. We were now to be taught a new lesson - the
extreme nonchalance with which the officers of a Government steamer
treat the passengers who have the misfortune to choose these boats
instead of making the voyage on board merchant vessels. Some minutes
elapsed before any notice was taken of us, or any assistance afforded
in getting up our baggage; our own people being obliged to look on
and do nothing, since, had they touched the ship, they would have been
obliged to perform eighteen days of quarantine.
Upon reaching the deck, we requested that our baggage might be taken
down into the ladies' cabin, in order that we might get our small
dormitories put to rights before the rest of the passengers came on
board; but, though it could have made no earthly difference to the
people employed, we met with a refusal, and the whole was deposited in
the grand saloon, already encumbered with luggage, every quarter of an
hour adding to the heap and the confusion, and the difficulty of each
person recognizing the identical carpet-bag or portmanteau that he
might claim as his property.[A]
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