The funds of the
Steam-committee have been lamentably mismanaged in this instance.
However, there being no windows, we were enabled to enjoy the fresh
air, and the room we occupied, not having been long whitewashed, was
perfectly clean.
Nothing can have been worse planned than the construction of these
houses. The only entrance is in front, down a narrow passage, open at
the top, and having apartments on either side, the two in front
being sleeping-rooms for travellers, with a kitchen and other offices
beyond, and at the back of all a stable, which occupies the whole
width of the building. The consequence is, that all the animals, biped
and quadruped, inhabiting the stable, must pass the traveller's
door, who is regaled with the smell proceeding from the said stable,
cook-rooms, &c.; all the insects they collect, and all the feathers
from the fowls slaughtered upon the spot; the plan being, when parties
arrive, to drive the unhappy creatures into the house, kill and pluck
them immediately.
The persons in care of these bungalows are usually a mongrel sort of
Franks, who have no idea of cleanliness, and are regardless of the
most unsavoury odours. The furniture of the rooms consisted of a deal
table and a moveable divan of wicker-work, while another, formed of
the same solid materials as the house, spread in the Egyptian fashion
along one side.
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