The Democratic advocate., 1906-03-17
DIARY OF A VOYAGE TO BRAZIL
[CoNTISUEnl
BY PAUL REESE.
Monday. September 25th.

general public as the Doldrums and on
board As the Uelldrums This is kind
Of marine desert, locality to be avoided,
if possible, BY those who travel by water
as the land desert is avoided by those who
travel by land But the resemblance does
not 20 much further than this. In the
land desert il never rains and there are
violent wind storms; here it rains nearly all
the time, while, the year round, there is
hardly wind enough TO sail a toy balloon.
After three days trial | am satisfied that
the Doldums is not a pleasant place to live
in. am also satisfied that the climate
here would very soon relieve a white man
Of the necessity of living at all any place.
Tuesday. september a6Ih.
What a very fortunate thing it Is that |
am not easily ineonvenienced by heat,
either in health or comfort, Il is not easy
to imagine what would become of person
here, if he was constituted like many peo-
pie know, who are reduced almost to the
Point Of fusion By the Arctic heat of a
MARYLAND summer. | have seen the ther-
mometer 20 higher once or twice before in
my life, but there is certain quality in
this breathless, heavy, solid, tangible heat
that quite outelasses anything | have ever
met with elsewhere. There is no let up in
it. By six in the morning 9O' is passed; /;
at night the temperature ranges from 750
10 So
wednesday, September 27th.
Worse than ever today | feel as if We
were being broiled alive The heat Is
positively sitting. \ moment ago l
thoughtlessly rested my hand on some brass
work on the rail, and it made me jump as
though had touched piece of red hot
iron The sailors, the soles of whose feet,
from constantly going barefooted, must be
about the toughness Of leather, 20 bare
footed no longer; the deck feels uneom-
fortably hot through my slippers, and even
the first mate is rarely seen without his
shoes on. Aud am wondering what part
Of the African coast we should be likely to
haul up on il our cargo of rosin we're to
take notion 10 spontaneously ''combust.
Thursday. September ssth.
There is no use in trying TO express my
self intelligen,ly without a dictionary, aud
that have not got might have recourse
to the sailors vocabulary, but fear that
even their strongest brand Of Anglo Saxon
would prove inadequate to the occasion.
sat down on a brass headed bitt on the
quarter deck, and the bound in the air
made, the next instant, did credit to my
activity and proved me no longer an invalid.
1t reminded me of the time when, a small
boy. | inadvertently sat on a lighted coal
oil stove. = = 4 bark has drifted in
sight to the westward We are all glad
she Is there. Misery loves company.
Friday, September goth.
Whether the old adage every cloud has
silver lining Is universally applicable or
not | will not attempt to say. Doubtless
in many questionable cases the lining is
there right enough, but not visible to the
doubling human eye. At any rate we are
not the exception that proves the rule, al
though it has taken me some time to dis
cover the lining that belongs to us, or rather
to me, for | am, perhaps, the only member
of the ships company who has any use for
it, now that it is discovered So, claiming
it By the right Of discovery and Of undis-
puted possession, shall proceed. 1t con-
sists of the anticipation of the pleasure |
shall always take in my right, hencetorth,
to smile pityingly and say NO, this
ain t hot. Why once, when | was in the
barkentiue Good News, bound for Rio de
,Janeiro, we were becalmed in Lat 30 n.
Long. 25o W. and it 90; so hot that, &c. -
| can. if | choose, get the rest of the yarn
out of some book. And, by the way,
speaking of books, it IS great pity there
is not an artist about to take our picture as
an illustration for ''The Ancient Mariner,
for the wandering albatross circling about
the ship makes the situation too good to lose.
Saturday. September 30th.
The heat would be almost uncomfortable
were it not for All occasional cat 5 paw
bringing breath Of air, but, unfortunately,
not enough to get us under way. | do not
know how can stand it much longer. As
if to add to our distress, two steamers
glided past us today, and the Tapping of
their awnings and rigging in the breeze
they kicked up gave them the appearance
of laughing at us. have probably never
seen so thoroughly aggravating spectacle
before. A tin can the captain threw over
the stern at noon is now, at six in the
evening, floating under the port bow.
Sunday, October list.
Some time in the night breeze sprung
up and, after giving us promise of better
things, died out, leaving us, by contrast,
more uncomfortable than ever. As
was in my bunk asleep, it may not have
come at all so far as concerned me person
ally. When | came on deck in the morn
ing three vessels were in sight: wisp Of
smoke to the n. E. bearing toward us, q
sail leaving us to the North and bark 5.
f., also headed away. By s bells the
steamer had come close enough for hel
name-The Tudor Prince-to be made out
through the glass. She bore past Us
astern, going S. by W. According to hel
bearings as taken by our captain, she is
bound for Cape Town, or she may be q
collier going to the Philippines. Towards