Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1900-02-09
CROSSING THE EQUATOR.
The Journey Of $40 Miles from Singa.
pore TO Java.
Temperature Averages only So Degrees
FahrenheIt--.OhInese slaves on Island
of BRnEa---ApprOaChIn The Pearl
OF the PRcIac.0
On BOARD S. S. "CoEN,"
Dec. %. 1899.

On BOARD S. S. "CoEN,")
Dec 90, 1899.
An imaginative conception of the tor
lures to be endured in crossing the supposed
hlistering belt known as the equator is
about as far removed from the truth as is
the reputation of a red sock for keeping
the feet warm.
Strange as it may seem, there's no palpi-
tation of the heart, no stopping of watches,
no loss of appetite, no custom duty exacted
by Neptune, no lapse of memory, nor in
creased confidence in salvation. The same
clothes misfit, the same sympathy for an
unsettled sea exists, one wears the same
name and finds his undesirable reputation
still unaltered
There is a noticeable quantity of earth,
air and water and a natural desire to eat
and sleep, though perhaps ones propensity
to drink predominates with greatest potency
One can get uncomfortably warm when it
would be difficult to obtain a chill, and it
must be admitted that ice water is more
common than white frost, but the idea often
prevalent that eggs are laid hard boiled,
matches are simultaneously ignited, bread
is toasted in the shelves of the pantry,
steam is made without fuel, fire proof decks
and asbestos clothing are necessity, is not
only untrue, but most probably the creation
of a mind waking in a New England JanI
airy to find the furnace fire out.
In fact, the run from Singapore to Bata-
via Java, distance of about $40 miles, is
wholly within the equatorial zone and the
temperature averages only about So degrees
Fahrenheit the year round Crossing the
equator about 115 miles south of Singapore
one finds the atmosphere delightfully."- COM
Portable and cooling breeze from the trade
winds and especially the northeast monsoon
from the China sea renders life on deck a
luxury and the trials and tribulations pre-
viously imagined as the unavoidable accom-
paniment of tour in the torrid zone
become unknown quantities.
Through chain of little islands which
skirt the shores of Sumatra, and produce
an unrippled sea, making the mirage not
only a phenomenal success but also a con-
slant aerial panorama, the course to the
south is always tropically picturesque and
truly ideal. The passengers, who through
experience and thorough appreciation of
| the comfort to be derived from the GUS
tomary costume of the natives, besport
| themselves in clothes too few to fit and too
loose to make "a complete outfit necessary
To be on deck all day is to prefer the con
tinuous performance and stay up all night
and this the majority do for the change in
| the temperature varies but u few degrees
during the night.
On the morning Of the second day we
enter the Straits of Banka between the
islands of Sumatra and Banka, the latter a
| Dutch possession containing one of the
| largest tin mines in the world. lnciden-
tally the Dutch lease these mines to the
| Chinese, who work them with contract
laborers whom they nominsly pay 81 a
month, but in reality they are slaves for
mally purchased for about $40 per capita,
but are mostly transported convicts. These
| Chinese lessees are compelled to give the
Dutch of the net proceeds of the product
and the average yearly export amounts to
| about l6, 900 tons.
From this strait the remaining run of
about "a hours is almost a repetition of the
first days cruise, except that the distances
from land are noticeably increased and the
sea seems to increase its monotonous calm
ness. Nearing the shores of Java, known
In reputation as the Pearl of the Pacific, y
innumerabe low islands covered to the
waters edge with a rank tropical growth
and supporting usually lone lofty palm
tree in their centre, dot the course and
gradually the distant mountains Of interior
Java assert themselves, making the unex-
pected, unheralded entrance of the ship in
to long, narrow slip running up into the
town of Prick, Batavia's unhealthful mala-
ria infected port, an introduction most in
teresting and altogether the pleasantest OF
a conclusion to an ideally comfortable voy
age across that portion Of the earth best &C
quainted with the direct rays of the sun.
Whenever a merchant vessel crosses the
equator it is customary to inaugurate a fes
tival we'll known to all the tars of the
tropics. 1t means that all hands turn on
on deck and do homage and perform th'
rites to Neptune who is supposed to boarC
the ship from over the bow as the boa
crosses the line, demanding the name of tn,
good ship and exacting tribute of beer
This ceremony is attended with all the lib
critics possible to be granted aboard ship
Someone impersonates Father Neptune ant
at the appointed time boards the ship and
after the usual formal remarks, orders al
, the recruits and recently enrolled seamel
to pay the tribute due from the ship. Wit
this opening act needless to say the initia
ton of the younger members of the crey
begins and it's not until they have bee
thoroughly introduced to the marine meth
DDS practiced in running the gauntlet, no
until the entire crew has found satisfaction
in a quenched thirst that the ceremony
properly performed and the unbilled oper
of the ocean is temporarily closed.
@. FRED CHnLDs.