Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/492

 *ness was "just a notion." Adelaide, the farmer's daughter, does not mind the terrific motion of the ship, but I have a slight headache, and do not care to eat much The barber says conditions down among the emigrants are bad. Most of them are in bed, in rooms containing hundreds. All the married couples occupy one large room, and sleep in their clothes. The unmarried women occupy another large room, and the unmarried men another. There are tables down below, where the emigrants may eat their food, but they eat on deck when the weather will permit. For breakfast they are given a soup thick with vegetables, and coffee; for dinner and supper they have boiled meat, potatoes, macaroni, onions, wine, and bread. They are given so much to eat that we all note the manner in which they waste it During the worst of the storm today, a large woman sitting on deck attempted to go below. She foolishly attempted to descend an open stairway, and the wind blew her skirts over her head. This rendered her hysterical, and she began screaming. Seven stewards were required to carry her to her room, from which retreat she sends word on deck that she is so humiliated that we will not see her again Owing to the storm, our run was cut down to 368 miles today. The storm seemed very serious to us, but on the log, the officers described it simply as: "Rough sea; north-*west gale."

—At 10 o'clock this morning we ran into a smooth sea, and the sun struggled out. By