were no windows, no ventilation. It was close and
hot. We were much crowded. It was the Black
Hole of Calcutta on a small scale. Presently a
smoke rose about our feet--a smoke that smelt of
all the dead things of earth, of all the putrefaction
and corruption imaginable.

We were there five minutes, and when we got out
it was hard to tell which of us carried the vilest
fragrance.

These miserable outcasts called that "fumi-
gating" us, and the term was a tame one, indeed.
They fumigated us to guard themselves against the
cholera, though we hailed from no infected port.
We had left the cholera far behind us all the time.
However, they must keep epidemics away somehow
or other, and fumigation is cheaper than soap.
They must either wash themselves or fumigate other
people. Some of the lower classes had rather die
than wash, but the fumigation of strangers causes
them no pangs. They need no fumigation them-
selves. Their habits make it unnecessary. They
carry their preventive with them; they sweat and
fumigate all the day long. I trust I am a humble
and a consistent Christian. I try to do what
is right. I know it is my duty to "pray for them
that despitefully use me"; and therefore, hard as it
is, I shall still try to pray for these fumigating,
macaroni-stuffing organ-grinders.

Our hotel sits at the water's edge--at least its
front garden does--and we walk among the shrub-
bery and smoke at twilight; we look afar off at
Switzerland and the Alps, and feel an indolent

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