are sufficiently comfortable for so short a distance. We were set down
at the barrier of Clichi, an inconvenient distance from the best part
of Paris. Here we had to undergo a second inspection of our baggage,
and I became somewhat alarmed for the fate of my medicine-chest. We
had taken nothing else with as that could be seizable, and this was
speedily perceived by the officials, who merely went through the form
of an examination.

The divisions in one of my portmanteaus had excited some suspicion
at Havre, one of the men fancying that he had made a grand discovery,
when he pronounced it to have a false bottom. We explained the method
of opening it to his satisfaction, and afterwards, in overhauling
my bonnet-box, he expressed great regret at the derangement of the
millinery, which certainly sustained some damage from his rough
handling. Altogether, we had not to complain of any want of civility
on the part of the custom-house officers; but travellers who take the
overland route to India, through France, will do well to despatch all
their heavy baggage by sea, nothing being more inconvenient than a
multitude of boxes. I had reduced all my packages to four, namely, two
portmanteaus, a bonnet-box, and a leather bag, which latter contained
the medicine-chest, a kettle and lamp, lucifer-matches, &c; my
bonnet-box was divided into two compartments, one of which contained
my writing-case and a looking-glass; for as I merely intended to
travel through a portion of our British possessions in India, and
to return after the October monsoon of 1840, I wished to carry every
thing absolutely necessary for my comfort about with we.

Another annoyance sustained by persons who take the route through
France is, the trouble respecting their passports, which must be ready
at all times when called upon for examination, and may be the cause of