When we approached the forward end of the poop we paused to survey the scene of the deck beneath us and beyond. I do not know how many emigrants the _Deal Castle_ carried; her decks appeared to be filled with men, women, and children that afternoon. You did not need to look at their attire to know that they were poor. There was everywhere an air of sullen patience, bitterly expressive of defeat, and of a dull and sulky resignation that might come in its way very near to hopelessness. Here and there were children playing, but their play was stealthy, snatched with fear, dulled by vigilance as though they knew that the blow and the curse could never be far off. A growling of voices ran amongst the men, and this noise was threaded by the shrill-edged chatter of women. But I do not remember that ever a laugh rose from amongst them.
‘Are all those people going to Australia?’ I asked Mrs. Lee.
‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘this ship does not call at any port. She is proceeding direct to Australia.’
‘Most of them,’ said she, ‘have probably sold all they possess in the world, with the exception of the clothes upon their backs, to enable them to get to Australia. Poor creatures! I pity the women, and even more do I pity the children. How are they fed? Not so well, I am sure, as the pigs under that big boat yonder. And what sort of quarters have they below? Oh, gloomy, dark and evil-smelling be sure, and suffocating when the weather is heavy and the hatches are closed.’
‘I should like to see the place where all those poor people sleep,’ said I.
‘I would not accompany you,’ she answered. ‘It is miserable to witness sufferings which one cannot soothe or help.’
‘And what will they do when they arrive in Australia?’
‘A good many will starve, I daresay, and wish themselves home. The colonies are full. There is plenty of land, but people when they arrive will not leave the towns. They will not do what those who created the colonies did--dig and build new places--and there is no room in the towns.’
‘There are a great many people down there,’ said I, running my eye over the groups. ‘I wonder if any one of them has lost his memory.’
‘It would be a blessed thing,’ said Mrs. Lee, ‘for most of them, perhaps for all of them, if they had left their memories behind them. What have they to remember? Years of toil, of famine, of hardship, years of heart-breaking, struggles for what?--for this! How big is this world!’ she exclaimed, casting her eyes round the sea, ‘yet there is no room for these people in it. How abundant are the goodly fruits of the earth! And yet those people there represent hundreds and thousands who cannot find a root in all the soil to provide a meal for themselves and the children. Yet though we all say there is something wrong, who is to set it right? Do you observe how that strange, fierce, dark woman is staring at you?’