Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/209

 have them all out, and put in a full set of good teeth." All the people here seem to look forward to the time when they will have all their teeth out, and put in a full set of the kind supplied by dentists. One of the first things you notice here is the great number of people with full sets of false teeth. I believe I could name a dozen comparatively young women on this ship who have no teeth of their own We have been in the Southeast trade-winds several days; the smoke from our funnels is always ahead of us. On this track the wind blows in the same direction for months at a time; there is also a current flowing with the wind. A thousand miles south of us, the current flows eastward, and the winds blow eastward as steadily as they blow westward here There is gossip on board to the effect that the two women passengers who have been nursing the sick woman, have quarreled. The invalid is carried on deck every fine day, and reclines on a cot, and it has been remarked that one of her volunteer nurses has disappeared; she is sulking in her room over some affront offered her by the other volunteer nurse. The passengers are much interested in the row. The nurse who is still on duty will leave the ship next Sunday, at Durban, and her rival will have a clear field during the run of nearly three weeks to Liverpool. The invalid was injured in a hunting accident; her horse fell while going over a hedge. She is a particularly nice woman, and one of the amusements on deck is to visit with her as much as the nurses will allow. And she has a baby boy called "Captain," who is loved by everybody On deck this afternoon, a woman ordered her