Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/192

 *tee, is in bed as a result of the excitement of the day, and we are laughing at him, in which his wife joins us It is at least clean at sea; no dust and no dirt. If it were not for the idea of it, you might wear a collar a week at sea Somewhere out in this wilderness there is said to be a large island where the women greatly outnumber the men; of six hundred adults, five hundred are women. I have forgotten the name of the place, but I have heard the men talk about it a good deal. On this island, the men do nothing, and the women wait upon them with great cheerfulness. A man is at liberty to have as many wives as he pleases; the men tell very amusing stories about life on the island, and usually they tell them in the presence of the women, to adorn a moral. This paradise for men is known in a general way as "The Island," and I am of the opinion that it is an invention of some man who has dreamed of such a place, after being imposed upon a good deal by women and girls.

—In Australia, what we call a tramp is known as a "Sundowner," because of his habit of appearing at sundown, and asking for a night's entertainment The best thing we have to eat on the ship is oatmeal, which is served every morning for breakfast. I have been neglecting this nutritious and palatable food for years, having drifted off to new breakfast foods extensively advertised, but I shall drift back to the Old Reliable, as I find it surprisingly good Opposite me on deck today sat a woman