In choosing a costume for really hot weather it must be remembered that any material requiring to be starched is about as suitable for the purpose as mackintosh sheeting, because linen and cotton fabrics, starched and ironed, are, as long as they retain their appearance, quite as impervious to transpiration. After they have lost their stiffness their appearance is most objectionable and disgusting, and it is a fortunate circumstance that they become so soon sodden, as there can be no doubt, that but for this, their use would be clung to by the conservative Briton, far more than he is able to do. For this reason the loss of popularity of late years of the old-fashioned white “American drill” clothing, once universally adopted, is hardly to be regretted. Without a considerable amount of starching they never looked fresh after an hour or two’s wear, and with it the material ceased to be suitable. It is, indeed, a mistake to provide oneself with clothing of this sort in England, as even “American drill” of the right sort, cannot be obtained, and the light cotton tweeds and checks which are now in use in India do not appear to be found in the home market. It is, of course, necessary to obtain two or three suits for use on the outward voyage, but to obtain more than this, is only to burden oneself with what will, as likely as not, prove to be useless, and perhaps noticeably out of the fashion of the country. A few shirts of soft cotton “twilled lining,” made with turned down collars, like a cricketing shirt, perhaps three pairs of white drill trousers (the material used by merchant seamen and known as “Dungaree” is the most suitable) and an alpaca coat and waistcoat will suffice. Unless one belongs to the clerical profession, the alpaca should be fawn-coloured, or, at any rate, not black, as in this colour the material is a sort of badge of missionary enterprise, and it is embarrassing to be asked to conduct service on the main deck, under false pretences. For the sub-tropical portion of the voyage, light flannel suits, made with as little lining as possible, are most suitable, and will prove useful, in any warm climate, at certain seasons of the year. In really hot weather, however, if thin enough to be cool, flannel becomes too flimsy to serve for outer garments, and one is practically restricted to cotton fabrics. Of late years a variety of cotton materials have been made in India in imitation of the woollen tweeds in general use in Europe, and have the great advantage that the little deception is all the better maintained if they are kept unstarched.