The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-10-16
From Admiral Evans
BOOk---A Sailors Loo
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once, and in few minutes the surgeon
in charge came in very angry and full
of threats. But the result was that
they left my legs on, and paid very lit
tie attention to me in any way for two
weeks, when they found / had fever
and must be looked after.
An International Boat Race at Hong
kong.
The first mile Of the course was pack
ed on either side with boats crowded
with people and covered with flags, and
must have presented beautiful sight
to those who had time to observe it. j
was not able to see much of it. / was
busy watching that red-colored French
barge, and occasionally glancing at the
fourteen hard-set, anxious faces in my
boat. At last we were ON the line, oars
pointed forward, feet firmly braced
against the stretchers, mouths shut like
steel traps, and every muscle and nerve
tense almost to the point of breaking.
Are you readyl" and then "Go!"
came from the starter. With one beau
tiful flash of the oars we all caught the
water together, and were off. / could
feel my heart thump in my throat as l
saw, with one eye, the light French
built boat shoot out half length
ahead of us, and with the other eye the
fourteen faces all turned on mine.
Three hard, quick strokes had set us
going, and for a moment the red barge
seemed to be tied to us, so even was our
bow-oar slowly, inch by inch, dip out
ahead of her. About five hundred yards
from the start was a bunch of Ameri-
can boats crowded with yelling lunatics,
and as ] approached them spoke a
word to the crew, signaled the stroke to
rise to forty, and before the French
man knew what had happened to him
he had our wash, and, barring accidents,
the race was won. Then we settled
down to our long, swinging, thirty-two
strokes, which were to last the rest of
the distance. The French crew began
yelling when we passed them, and / be-
lieve they kept it up to the finish.
1t struck me as about the worst use
l had ever known a racing crew to put
their lungs to, but it pleased me i'm
mensely to have them do it. At the
turning buoy we were thirty seconds
ahead, and on the pull we gained one
minute. Crossing the finish line, toss
ed oars for second as the gun flashed,
and then pulled to the ship at the same
racing speed. AS / shot alongside, the
tackles were hooked and the boat run
up to the davits, crew and all. All hands
tumbled out on deck, and when the
Frnch barge crossed the line our boat
was quietly hanging at the davits, as
if nothing had happened. 1t was only
boat race, it is true, but it was a
grand one, and we won it.
The African Republic of Liberia"
After walk of five minutes over n
bare, sunbaked clay hin, without one
sprig of anything green, where the max
ed negro children were playing, uncon-
scious of their nakedness, we came to
the humble home of President Roberts,
of the Republic of Liberia. He had
been raised slave near Petersburg, in
Virginia, and L found him a person of
pleasing manners and assured ability
just the man to preside over the desti-
MES of his fellow Africans. He had
gathered his Cabinet about him, and |
was presented to the different members
the Secretary of War, the Secretary
of the Navy, the Secretary of the
Treasury, and so on through the list.
During the conversation that followed
l heard the rustling of silk dress, and
instinctively rose to my feet. There
before me stood a short, neat, very
black woman, and, without waiting for
an introduction, i shocked myself by
saying, elbow do you do, auntyl" to
which she replied, with courtesy,
every well, thank you, sir" | was
instantly aware of my mistake in so
addressing the wife of the President,
but was relieved of all embarrassment
by the hearty laugh of Mr.. Roberts,
and the query, "What part of the
South do you come from, captaini"
The German Emperor as Guest.
At ! a. m the emperor expressed a
desire to visit and inspect the engine
room. And so we did. He looked into
every hole and corner, and even had
us dsconnect one of the engines, mark.
ing time on us himself. Then we went
through the gun deck and out on to
the foreeastle, where he asked how long
| it would take to close all the water.
tight doors. | replied that in the day
time we could do it in thirty seconds,
but at night it would take about two
minutes. Much to my surprise, he ask.
ed if ] would mind doing it for him.
of course / had to say yes, but when |