The San Francisco call., 1910-03-18
a FTFLE TTATGH W17H THE WEy7RALTArFy.

Wellington. Wherever one goes in
Tasmania the scenery is magnificent.
The climate is somewhat similar to our
own, and large quantities of fruits and
berries are raised and shipped out A
great deal of butter is also exported
and while they raise a number of
sheep, this is not carried on to the
extent that it Is on the mainland in
Australia. One of the prettiest trips
which we were able to take, while on
this island, was through the gorge, at
Launceston. Here the waters rush
through deep, rocky canyon, where
in places the walls seem to go straight,
UP several hundred feet. At many
places immense masses of rock appear
as if about to fall into the tulnbling
stream below.
Fran Tasmania we returned to Mel
bourne where we spent Christmas.
Christmas here comes in the middle
of summer, and on this time proved
to be very hot day. From Mel
bourne we proceeded to Sydney once
more, where a most delightful two
weeks were spent in swimming and
sight seeing. On January IL we
boarded the "Makura" for home, but
our sight seeing was not yet over, for
two days out we stopped at the city
of Brisbane, in Queensland. Here we
were received by the governor and
shown around the city in the morning
cricket grounds, where we played both
baseball and basket ball. Owing to
the fact that it was an exceedingly
hot day, the boys were all very glad
to get back to the ship and leave
for the Fiji islands.
1t was in the forenoon that We passed
through the reef and anchored off Suva,
tlee capital city. Almost immediately
a doctors boat put off from shore. The
crew were Fijlans and proved to be as
big a source Of wonder to us as we
were to them. All had large, bushy
heads of hair, some of which were dyed
bright red, while others had put
. lime on theirs and turned IL Whlte.
Still others had flowers and ribbons
run through. When we landed In the
town we saw, besides the natives,
large numbers of Hindus from India.
The natives do not like these Indians
and in consequence they have trouble
every once in q while. The FlJlan is
very clean and dresses very neatly,
with a collar and tie, white shirt ana
native sulu, or skirt, similar to Kilt
But very few have any use for shoes
One falling is the use of cocoanut oil.
They all use this, rubbing 1T into their
hair and over their bodies, till their
skin fairly glistens. The country
around Suva is very rough and thickly
wooded. Along the Rewa river are
cocoanuts and pineapples Fiji In the
olden days was a terrible place for can
nibals, and the men were very hard
fighters, but now the British govern
ment has possession of them and they
are rapidly adopting the white mans
ways and becoming civilized. Like the
natives of Tahiti, they are very fond
of singing and on moonlight nights you
can hear them in all directions, and
fine voices they have too.
From Fiji we sailed to Honolulu
which was our first American stopping
place since leaving home. Owing to
q case OF sickness on board we had TO
go into quarantine for IA days. We
were placed on a small island across
from the city, and although 1t was
only 40 acres in extent We had fine
time, for all we had to do was swim
and play ball. After leaving the island
sailed for home. Honolulu We found
different from any other place at
which we touched, for although the
natives were similar TO the other
islanders we had seen, they dressed and
lived very much the same as we do
Round about the city are pineapple
plantations. A great many cocoanuts
are also grown, while rice paddles and
taro patches are everywhere. This last
plant forms the staple food supply OF
the islanders. About the greatest sport
which we had here was riding the surf
boards at Waikiki beach. We did not
have much success at 1t, but II was
great sport In the breakers. When the
time came to leave we were all sorry
to see the last of this pleasant island
and its happy people, but we had been
away for nine long months and so had
10 be getting back, but IL is our wish