The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-01-18
FROM FOREIGN SHORES.
LETTERS WRITTEN ON BOARD A
UNITED STATES TRANSPORT.
Another Henderson Man in the Philip
pines as a Defender of Uncle Sans
Eiag-A Batch of Letters That Make
Interesting Reading.

Mr.. W. \. Britt has shown lis. a
batch Of letters from his brother Mr..
Starkev Britt, Sergeant-Major Second
Battalion 18th Infantry, [. 5, Vol
unteers. written on board the trans
port Thomas en- route to Manila. The
first letter is dated Nov 18th, and
was sent from Gibralta. We quote
few extracts from it:
We have crossed the Atlantic ocean
and all are well. Had very fine
weather, only one or two rough days.
We have very large ship and
heavy load and about 400 persons.
This place is South Of Spain and
Portugal and North of Africa. We
can see the African coast in the dis
lance.
| cant describe the trip to YOU
as person sees so much: YOU must
wait until get to Manila. We will
next stop at Malta. which is South OF
Italy, Will pass near the coast of
Egypt.
illtI IIldI sup VIZ " III sup a.
Ceylon, which : outh Of India.
Will reach Manila about Christmas
dav. and it will take a letter about 10
DAYS to reach YOU. so YOU may not
hear from me again before February.
The next letter is dated Malta,
Italy, and is in part as follows:
We left Gibralta Thursday night.
and after three days more reached
this city this morning.
can't tell You much, for am be-
coming dazed by the splendor Of the
Old World. was fearfullv sick when
we were off the North coast of Africa,
and vomited for the first time.
This city can hardly be described,
it is grand, grand, grand. but cant
understand one word the people say,
only the English. They gave us a
grand reception. Their band would
play American songs and our band
would play ''God save the Queen"
You can read Of this place in the
Bible, and | think Saint Paul spent
some time here. The British now
own it and keep a large fleet here.
This island is called Nleta in some
parts of the Bible.
| hope some day to be able to come
here and spend some time.
The regiment is going ashore to-
morrow, and have a big parade.
Something for man to do that. In
fact, this tri p is one that few people
ever take.
But how the Spaniards do hate us.
At Gibralta, the Spanish would see
the '.boys' coming down the street
and YOU could hear them cNclaim
dnericm1o malu, which means, tie
AWericuaS are mean, and some of them
would run in the house and shut the
door.
We anchored to-day by large
Spanish boat, and real pretty lady
was on board, and our boys cheered
her, and she stuck out her mouth and
spit at them. Then the boys yelled.
The Spaniards are the worst whip
ped people l ever saw.
We have nearly thirty days before
we reach the Philippines.
We will sail the coast of Egypt
soon, and the next stop will be on the
lower part of Egypt, Tut we will stop
there Onl Y a short time, and | may
not be able to write until we reach
Colombo. on the island of Cevlon,
South Of India. VIII try to write to
YOU from there We will reach that
place about Dec. 10th. or may be the
9TH.
From Port Said, Egypt, Nov. 2Gth,
the next letter was written:
We arrived here thi, evening, and
are wing over for the night.
am filled with sentiment. Little
did ever think that | should stay all
night in the land read so much about
in the Bible
We are only 60 miles from Jerus A
lem. am astounded at the immen-
sitv of this world. The same stars
shine at night and seem 10 nearer
than in America.
Tomorrow we 90 through the Suez
Canal that separates Africa from
Asia, and enter the Red Sea.
II we do not stop at Alden, in
Arabia, our next stop will be at
Colombo, on the island of Ceylon,
South of India.
The weather is growing very hot
and will continue to grow hotter
| have the chance to see every city
we stop at, as am allowed ashore.
December 9th the last letter is
~ .=s<