Emily Eden

“ Kedgeree is a pretty place—about two inches of bank, then a little jungle and an old ruin of a house that a former postmaster lived in, a little thatched bungalow which the present less well-paid man inhabits, a flag-staff which acts as a semaphore, and then a few native huts. Mrs. Rousseau, the postmistress, sent me a basket of fruit and vegetables. I wish she would come herself, as she must want to see another European woman. I suspect her husband must be the original Rousseau. It is just the place he would have chosen to live in—utterly out of the reach of human kind. ”

“ The air is so hot and steamy and the tanks do not fill, so that the atmosphere is muddy and bad, and altogether it has been much like an influenza in London, only that people here have no strength to lose, and whatever they do lose they never regain. George breakfasted with me at half-past six this morning, and, as I had not seen him for some time at that early hour, I could not help looking with astonishment at his fresh colour and real healthy appearance. He grows tired and pale after writing through a whole hot day, but the animal itself is apparently better than ever. ”

“ I do not mean so much for us, who come for a short time and can have a fleet, or an army to take us anywhere for change of air if we have pains in our sides, but for people who earn their bread in India, and must starve if they give it up. ”

“ It is impossible to get a cabin on board the steamers and pilot schooners that take people to be rolled about at the Sandheads for the recovery of their healths. It is a melancholy country for wives at the best, and I strongly advise you never to let your girls marry an East Indian. ”

“ She hoped she could have gone out a little in Calcutta to give her something to think of.’ And then, if these poor women have the comfort of children, they must send them away just as they become amusing. ”

“ We have arrived at very nice weather, though, comparatively speaking, I cannot guess how it would be in England—I suppose very hot, for we are still living under the punkahs—but there are chilly bits in the day, in which old Indians go shivering about in great coats and try to look blue. ”