Page 142 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

island of Hong Kong, which is a little English colony near
the Chinese coast. Phileas Fogg hoped to accomplish the
journey in six days, so as to be in time for the steamer
which would leave on the 6th of November for

Yokohama, the principal Japanese port.
The Rangoon had a large quota of passengers, many of
whom disembarked at Singapore, among them a number
of Indians, Ceylonese, Chinamen, Malays, and
Portuguese, mostly second-class travellers.
The weather, which had hitherto been fine, changed
with the last quarter of the moon. The sea rolled heavily,
and the wind at intervals rose almost to a storm, but
happily blew from the south-west, and thus aided the
steamer’s progress. The captain as often as possible put up
his sails, and under the double action of steam and sail the
vessel made rapid progress along the coasts of Anam and
Cochin China. Owing to the defective construction of the
Rangoon, however, unusual precautions became necessary
in unfavourable weather; but the loss of time which
resulted from this cause, while it nearly drove Passepartout
out of his senses, did not seem to affect his master in the
least. Passepartout blamed the captain, the engineer, and
the crew, and consigned all who were connected with the
ship to the land where the pepper grows. Perhaps the

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