The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1918-01-31

4 and can see them under water. The
coins lie sideways and wiggle going
4 down SO it tCesnt go down very fast
! If you throw coin within thirty OF
forty feet of them they will swim tt
where it went down and then dive anC
! get it in their hand. When they come
up they put the coin in their mouth
Lots of the fellows threw them dimes
and nickels so you see they could soor
get their mouth full and have quite Q
bit of money. They never miss get.
ting the coin and always hold it up fol
you to see before putting it in their
mouth. This is quite a sight. The
water was pretty clear and about
| fifty feet deep and when about eight
or ten of them all went down head
first after a coin it was interesting to
see which one came up with it. They
would stay down quite while some
times. They just swim around in the
water by the side of the boat and keep
their eyes up all the time looking for
a coin to be thrown. They would also
crawl up a rope on the side of the boat
and dive off from the highest point
which was, suppose, about fifty feet.
i saw some of the prettiest diving /
ever saw. l guess they can stay in
the water all day and never get tired.
They followed the boat quite ways
when we started out, looking for
money to be thrown. ..4 .a
You remember in a previous letter
| was telling you about the little girls
They were native Hawaiian girls. One
- IL -
There the breakers are heaviest and
here he found one of those little rats
out there all by herself having a
dickens of a time riding the breakers.
They take to the water naturally, l
guess, like ducks.
When we left Honolulu yesterday
Col. Emerson said we could say good
bye to the U. S. A. for three years at
least. They say this is the first trip
this boat ever made since she was
buil 1t without woman on board, this
is absolutely stag party.
/ guess l didn't tell you about the
Hawaiian music. You know it is very
popular in the states now. Everybody
plays it. / heard some of the real
original stuff. The native Hawaiian
boys get together on the street at
night, five CT six in bunch, and play
on the ukeleles and guitars till mid
night. 1t is certainly pretty music
and it is so weird. We listened to it
quite bit. They also had band con-
cert the last night we were there. We
inquired about it and found it was
about two miles out on the car line
so we went to picture show. l am
sorry | didn't go to hear the band as
they had native women singing native
songs in their native tongue. The
fellows who went said it was simply
grand. There is something about this
music which takes hold of fellow
and there is so much melody in their
words. The queen, who died about
Two weeks ago, was great composer
of music and wrote lots of the pop
ular Hawaiian songs now being sung
in the states.
You know Honolulu is not on the
island of Hawaii but is on the island
of Oahu (wahoo) which is one of the
seen thing since we lost sight of
Honolulu. Not boat. We run every
night without any lights but they
allow the fellows to play games until
II p. m. in the smoking room and
music room. There is not much light
gets out of these places.
You remember | told you about the
man getting arrested in Honolulu for
saying that our ship would be sunk
the second day out? Well, this morn
ing they received a wireless from
Honolulu TO arrest one of the boats
crew, as they thought ne was mixed
up in it. They have the man in the
Brig" now in irons. think this man
is probably all right. When they
started questioning that man they
have in Jail in Honolulu he probably
thought he would get this fellow into
trouble while he was about it. This
fellow on the ship is the head butcher
and has been in the service nineteen
years. He is German by birth but
has all his papers and has been in the
service so long that they think he is
all right. They will leave him in jail
anyway until we reach - or I'M
til something is found out about the
case.
The sea is 'Eangry" today and there
is very strong north wind. When
the waves break just right and go
high the wind grabs some of the water
and shoots it across the deck. You
can sit on the west side of the boat
and try to spit in the ocean and the
wind will take it across the deck and
off on the other SIDE This is the
toughest sea we have had. 1t has
rained all day today and is growing
colder Since we left Frisco we have
had fine weather nearly every day I'M
til now. Since leaving Honolulu we
had been headed directly for Yoko-
hama, Japan and we were all hoping
we would land there for day or two.
Last night they changed the boats
course and we are now headed direct
for Vladivostok. $3.50
They have map on chart in the
music room and mark up every day
how many miles we have made and
also draw line from Honolulu and
add to it every day to show just where
we are. guess we are going straight
to Vladivostok now and they think we
should be there next aSturday. If the
wind stays up though and it storms
we can't make such good time. ! am
anxious to get there and get to work.
tbirL cbonId Iypoy, obOut ON xuorJc