The Irish standard., 1886-12-04
GALWAY TO THE. ANTIP0DES.
Continued from first page.)

C1Ildl IlleI0 al0 uldWOlluSOo w es'AS''
the Arabs to go from one side to the
other. The French are always dredg-
ing the canal, as the sand is choking IT
up, it being blown from the desert. 1t
is fearful hot in the canal and most op-
pressive. Why. the night we anchored
in it 1 thought would die of sutfoca
ton. Just at the end is the town OF
Suez, fair-sized one, but the locality
is so hot don't know how any one can
live there permanently. The banks OF
sand on both sides of the SueZ are very
high. Immediately after passing
through the Gulf of Suez, in the Red
Sea. which took us about four days to
get clear of. often wished for plunge
mold LoUaH CORR1B.
The heat was almost beyond power OF
endurance, and, remember, our vessel
was covered over; still, we had ten
deaths from sunstroke. The heat was
fearful, something beyond my power
to picture in words. The scenes on
board during those DAYS were pltltul,
any amount of women swooming. bab-
les crying, men fainting from the heat,
people trying to bring them through
and others carried off to the hospital
sunstruck, to live but - short time. l
will never forget it, not to mention how
W. felt at meals, and the water to drink
so hot that you could not taste it. Ihe
heat in the shade some days went to liz
degrees. If one had to bSar nothing
but that, a journey to this place would
be we'll earned, as the time we crossed
the Red sea was just when the heat
was at it's highest point. The scenery
in the Red sea, particularly coming
near Alden, was magni6cent-long
ranges of beautiful hills, covered with
cocoanut trees, orange trees, lovely
valleys, etc., lying before US just as we
entered Alden. l have seen no place on
the voyage to remind me Of some home
scenery as much as this place. we
stayed twelve hours in Alden; it, also,
was very hot. The natives are some
thing the color of the Egyptians, even
a little darker, but much finer lot OF
men. Some of them, from what saw,
are as fine fellows as ever looked on
splendid physique. After leaving Alden, i,
we went into the Indian ocean, aud :,
for some days, it was as hot, if not hot
ter, than in the Red sea. We were
thirteen days crossing this ocean, and,
within at least half that time, it was
very rough aud our ship rocked very
much. Although the rocking was bad. {.
we welcomed the wind, as it took away
the effects of the great heat. Coming
on to Batavia, in Java, we passed some
beautiful islands, cl>.thed in luxurious
verdure, and saw
SOME RxrINCT VOLCANOES.
We came within two miles of the
scene of the great earthquake and erup-
tion, which occurred, you may remem-
ber, a few years ago, when Thousands
of people lost their lives and when
large towns were engulfhed. There is
nothing there to meet the eye but large
mountains of lava. From Betavia up
to Thursday Island, we went by hum
dreds of volcanoes, some of them
amongst the highest in the world. On
July 6, our thirty-second day at sea, we
anchored in Port Batavia, took in Goals,
and. must mention, kept far away
from shore, as you know, this is the
nest of yellow fever; so, after twenty
four hours, we were not sorry to leave
it. 1 should remark that the women
do all the work here; the men sit smok-
and the woman work away. You could
not know one from the other, as all
dress alike, and the natives are very
ugly looking, while their color is al
most black. The country in this place
is very low and swampy, but looks
really beautiful, more especially when
approaching it, This was the first
place since I left Ireland that l could
properly call a green field. After leaving
this port, we proceeded through the
Straits of Sunda ond Torres Struts;
and, until we got to our destination,
we passed hundreds Of beautiful is-
lands. need not say we were glad to
sight the coast. We reached T island
July 16, and got inspected there. 1t is
very pretty place, ard great number
of small islands around it. From there
we went to Cooktown first port,)
landed some passengers and cargo. and
on the 2lth day we steamed up the
Brisbane ri> er twenty miles, or should
more properly say, we towed up. The
scenery going up this river is simply
grand. At both sides it is covered
with beautiful trees, and on all the
little hills were pretty houses, nearly
all made of timber. The approach to
the city was beautiful beyond de<crip-
ton, as the bank is lined with pretty
houses with verandals, neatly laid out
fruit and flower gardens, and, what is
more pleasant to the eye, green fields
and any amount of cattle.