Where supplies of provisions are not attainable, it necessarily follows that each person on board can receive only a stipulated allowance of meat, water, &c. This does not always affect those who are at the captain’s table; though it is generally recommended to the passengers to be economical in their expenditure of water for washing, shaving, &c. In some ships they are restricted to a quart daily, and if the crew are upon short allowance, which is understood to be the case when each man receives less than two quarts, the passengers and officers have little or no fresh water allowed for the above purposes; but their beverage at table is rarely limited, except under the pressure of actual necessity. All things considered, the privations experienced by passengers to India are by no means so numerous, nor so severe in their operation, as might at first view be apprehended. In many ships, ladies and gentlemen skilled in music are adventitiously assembled, and, by their united talents, afford a most pleasing recreation to all on board: few vessels are totally destitute of some means to attract the parties towards the quarter-deck; where, in the cool of the evening, during fair weather, the merry dance for a while banishes _ennui_, and contributes to give a wholesome impetus to the circulation. Those ladies who are partial to music should be particularly careful that the piano-fortes they may take with them, be constructed in such manner as may exempt them from those wondrous effects produced by the climate of India. I have had the pleasure of aiding several friends in this instance, and found that the instruments made for exportation could never be depended upon, unless clamped at every joint with plates of brass, and secured, in the more delicate parts, by means of battens well screwed and cemented to the sounding board. Experience has fully satisfied me, that the pianos most appropriate for hot climates are made by Clementi, Kirkman, and Tomkinson, at their respective manufactories in London. Ladies will derive considerable convenience and gratification from having an exterior case made to enclose the piano-forte, leaving a space of about an inch all around. This outward safe-guard should be of planed deal, stained of a mahogany color, or painted; and it should open in front, so as to admit of playing the instrument, while its lid should be fixed upon hinges, that it may be thrown back at pleasure. The lower part of the frame may be packed, and laid by; a spare frame of deal being substituted during the voyage, with a set of shelves below to contain music, books, &c.; all locked up by means of folding doors. Both the exterior case, and the frame, ought to be furnished with lacquered iron handles, whereby to lift them occasionally; but particularly intended to secure them to the side of the ship, and to the deck: without such a precaution the whole would be tumbled about, and shivered to atoms, by the vessel’s motion.