Evening journal., 1922-05-11
Cruise TO Panama Canal
BY WILLIAM II. HILL
Associate Editor of The Morning News

CRISTOBAL. Panama, April 30
The fact that the entrance to the
great Panama Canal, of which you
have no doubt heard, has been
reached by the floating writer will
be established by the arrival Of this
letter. The start was made on We'd
nesday night, April 10, from New
York, and save for a day spent in
Norfolk and four or five hours in
Havana. the steamer Venezuela has
been going ahead steadily. day and
night, burning two hundred and flftv
barrels of oil in each twenty-four
hours TO keep us moving and 10 fur
nish no end of light for hundreds of
electrical bulbs. l am informed that
there is some sort Of a special en-
CINE that would do the same work
with the consumption OF only fifty
barrels OF oil a day. Thus. why the
two hundred and fifty barrels a day
I do not understand, viewing II from
the point OF a domestic economist.
After racing slowly through the
upper court Of the Atlantic Ocean.
a dip was made into the Gulf OF
Mexico. Next came the Straits OF
Yucatan, and thence into the Carib-
bean Sea, and that is where we are
now. I am seated in a sun-parlor
with one end open toward the stern
Of the boat and just below, on the
other deck, a swimming pool. II is
built of sail cloth and water to the
depth OF ten feet. Its area is rather
limited for distance strokes. The
young folk are having their after
noon plunge. The sea. after having
been rolling and tossing most enjoy
ably for many days. has smoothed
many OF It's wrinkles and the motion
Of the boat IS barely perceptible.
Twas ever thus from the begin
ming OF life. just as I noted the alb
sence ocean wrinkles there came a
shift in the wind and the rollers are
starting in for their nights work.
Yet, Il IS the waves that give zest
TO ride on the salt waters and the
depth OF the sea in this section Is !
said to be about twelve thousand |
feet on the average. That suggests !
that a ship OF any dimensions is Ike |
unto a chip on the ocean: OF no |
more importance. II the sea knew its /
full strength, than a feather on a |
mill pond.
The one great feature OF an ex-
tended ocean trip. although thus far |
a start has scarcely been made. Is
the opportunity TO meet all sorts Of |
folk. The traveller who Is observant, |
a careful listener, a chooser OF com |
panions on the way. is bound 10 add /
10 his store of knowledge much that /
Is worth while. In the small party .
on the Venezuela are five Spanish
speaking women, two OF them
sisters" and one lone Chinaman
who took passage at Havana. He IS
the lonelest one on board, but a
zindly young woman has sought 70
lid him by means Of Chinese
phrase book: vet the sound Of her
-olce means nothing. II IS appar-
entity harder for an English-speak-
ng person 10 get under the crust OF
Chinaman than It was TO get be-
lind the mask OF blindness and
loafness OF Helen Keller. The Span
sh women have found-rather he
ound them-a young man who mas
smattering OF Spanish. They are
II silent women and yet seem 70 be
moving themselves inside. They
mile at the kindly good morning
-reeting OF the other passengers.
Information and misinformation
70 70 be found in a mixed assem-
.lage. but one tie that seems TO bind
ne group together Is poker and
ridge. Books are scanned in
esultory way, and an atmosphere
Z n total disregard for time per-
ades the decks. While passing
own the coast line and near the
nd OF Florida, after a glimpse Of I
'aln1 Beach In the late afternoon, I '
HANGED 10 recall my geography OF :
lany years ago and I visualized an (
ncient atlas on which was marked q
y dots the Sargasso sea. I thought s
was "just off there somewhere. !
nd began 70 make inquiries. Some
{ my new friends laughed me 10 }
.orn and Jared me as n dreamer 4
2 dreams. No one had heard Of the a
argasso Sea. I appealed to the
aptaln. and for my query must :,
ave sounded like a phrase in Choc- 4
Nv. He knew not my sea. Final q
I found a young woman who =
new there was such a thing and n
scaIled some facts I had forgotten. d
ut kept on and at last found two b