The Mandarin, owing to the quarantine, has kept
me waiting several days at Suez, and when at last she steams out of the
canal and we give chase with the little launch, and finally range
alongside, the whole length of the deck is observed to be bristling with
ears. Some particularly hopeful agent of the Indian Government has been
sanguine enough to ship one hundred and forty mules from Italy to Karachi
during the monsoon season, on the deck of a notoriously rolling ship, and
with nothing but temporary plank fittings to confine the mules. The mules
are ranged along either side of the deck, seventy mules on each side,
heads facing inward, and with posts and a two-inch plank separating them
from the remainder of the deck, and into stalls of six mules each.
Cocoanut matting is provided for them to stand on, and a plank nailed
along the deck for them to brace their feet against when the vessel
rolls. Nothing could be more happily arranged than this, providing the
mules were unanimously agreed about remaining inside the railed-off
space, and providing the monsoons had agreed not to roll the Mandarin
violently about. With unpardonable short-sightedness, however, it seems
that neither of these important factors in the case has been seriously
considered or consulted, and, as an additional insult to the mules, the
plank in front of them is elevated but four feet six above the deck.
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