The best mode is to embark at Calcutta on board one of the Chittagong traders, of which some are commonly on the point of sailing, and to make a sea trip at once, in a secure, and tolerably pleasant manner. It is true, this mode does not offer all the conveniences of a good large _budjrow_; but that is balanced by the safety and celerity with which the voyage is made. A _budjrow_ will rarely complete the trip to Chittagong under three weeks; whereas, a coasting sloop will commonly perform it in as many days, after quitting the pilot, either in the northerly or southerly monsoon; the coast being east, with a very little southing.
After a _budjrow_ has been offered for hire, it will be but common prudence to send a carpenter on board to search her bottom, and to place a servant on board for a day and a night, to ascertain how much water she may take in during that time. Some of the best, in appearance, are extremely rotten, and can only be kept afloat by constant baling, in consequence either of the depredations of worms, or of the number of years they may have been built. Some are neat and clean, others are filthy in the extreme; some are supplied with good Venetians, lockers, curtains outside the windows, &c., &c.; while not a few, though not totally destitute of such conveniences, offer them in a most miserable state of wretchedness and of inutility. The roofs of nine in ten do not keep out water.
It will, on every occasion, be indispensably necessary to make memoranda of the terms on which the _budjrow_, &c., may be taken; and to obtain from the _manjy_ a written agreement; the want of which may prove unpleasant, either in consequence of any misunderstanding, or from any attempt that may be made to impose upon such Europeans as may not be supposed to have sufficient knowledge of the ordinary routine of such affairs, to secure them from depredation.
The masts, sails, rigging, &c., of the vessel should be carefully over-hauled; and, in particular, great care should be taken that one or two good _ghoons_, or track ropes, of sufficient length, be on board; since a defect in this branch of equipment will inevitably produce great delay, and, in strong currents, subject the boat to imminent danger.