Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-02-19
Another Letter From Claire TOtmar.
On Board s. S. "Vestris, /"
Jan. 9Th, 1918.


Dear Folks Still we're sailing
along. Jan. Sd, stopped at Barbados
from a. m. until two a. m. Saturday
morning were padded ashore by the
natives for shilling (24cts. each,
English money on the isle. We be-
came quite expert changing from
American to English money A fine
day on the isle; it was 90 degrees
above zero and we carried our coats.
The natives begged us all day for
money they constitute about 80 per
cent of the population of the capitol
city, Bridgetown, city of about
90 600. Saw cocoanut palms. flowers
in profusion. a tapir, parrots and
monkeys and humming birds galore.
Showery and sunshiny all day. streets
dry quickly, due to presence of lime
stone. Isle has coral foundation.
Plenty of cars: The Ford, Buick.
r. G. H. are represented, also large
number of French autos. A bout rs per
cent of the passengers are going to
Buenus Ayres. few to Rio, one { be.
side Molgaard and myself) to Monte
video and one to Paraguay. l felt o.
K. at Barbados. but three or four
days of rough weather. port holes
closed, ETC., has put ME on the bun"
again; just stick around and cannot
eat. 1 feel better this morning. We
expect to cross the equator this after
noon. The crew hint that some en-
tertainment will be staged One of
the crew appears representing Neptune,
god & waters; tells us of the Deep;
we are baptized etc. The fellow
going to Montevideo is a native of
Uruguay. He is white, and bright
fellow he tells US we will be station
ed at Tulado, suburb of Montevideo,
electric car service to and from; says
it is beautiful place and that we
ale sure to like it; says that living
expenses are somewhat lower at
Montevideo than in either Brazilian
or Argentine cities.
We get to Bahia Friday or Satur
day after an eight day run. Time
will go faster then, as schedule is
thus: Three days Bahia to Rio, one
day Rio to Santos, and three days
Santos to Mortevideo and one night
ride gets on to Buenos Ayres There
are four or five fellows from the
western states (cattle men) going to
Argentina, two or three threshermen,
etc.
January 18th, 10 miles from Bahia /;
will arrive at IL o'clock tonight. Am
feeling all right now. We had
vaudeville show upon 1st class deck
the Uther evening, and on the follow
ing night dance. A lady passenger
from Indiana asked for the dance !;
seems to be a fine woman; her hus-
band is thresherman. She rides one
night on train south from Buenos
Ay1es. Molgaard feels fine most of
the time. We were in sight of the
Brazilian coast for three or four hours
yesterday; passed around the point at
about 81 degrees longitude made good
run (342 milesl could only make $50
or 900 during the rough weather. I
got letter out of nv trunk soon after
leaving Barbados, I read it on deck,
and they wanted to know where / got
my mail? Said they knew that they
had mail on the boat; of course they
cannot get it until it gets to its
destination. Have seen no whales as
yet, although they report seeing tt eE
off Pernambuco. We have one big
Swede aboard about #. in. tail.
the biggest man I ever saw. We in
troduceed him at BarEadoes to the ma
tives as Jim Jeffries, telling them
that he was in training. and on his
way to South America, intending to
clean up lot of 'em there. They
viewed him from a distance with
mingled curiosity and awe. I have
my mouth arranged for oranges at
Bahia tomorrow expect it will be
quite warm. We stop whole day,
and two days at Rio as we have many
tourists on.
Still the same old sun shinin'
and last night beautiful new moon.
hope to hear from you in two or
three weeks. Your sun and brother,
Claire.