40 A COLLECTING TRIP 
deck to get a little sleep, but it remained from ninety 
to ninety-two all night. Old and stout people suffered 
tortures. The last hundred miles of the sea were 
pleasant, for we had a good breeze from the Indian | 
ocean up through the Bab el Mandeb (Gate of Tears). 
Happily there was hardly a ripple, so we were not 
seasick. On October 28th we dropped anchor off Aden 
‘on the south coast of Arabia, distance from London 
by our route 3754 miles. We went ashore but had 
only a short time as it was nearly dark. We got some 
splendid ostrich feathers, direct from the interior, 
twelve feathers for a little more than a shilling each. 
Of course, they are not curled. Aden’s only fame is 
that it is about the hottest place on earth inhabited 
by white men. There are several regiments of English 
soldiers holding a great rock without anything but 
desert for hundreds of miles around and not so much 
even as one spear of green grass. There is not a single 
drop of water for drinking or domestic purposes, ex- 
cepting distilled ocean water. We have sent a few 
picture postals and we have a few pictures which we 
took ourselves. We had only a short time ashore as 
it is very dangerous to be about after dark. We went 
from shore to the Oriental, an old and decidedly small 
ship, single screw. We had a fine state room, but the 
(few) first cabin rooms were away aft, right under 
the quarter deck and directly over the screw. Natives 
brought all our luggage from the Moldavia in small 
boats and it was then hoisted to our deck. As fast as 
we recognized our baggage we grabbed it from a yell- 
ing, shrieking, naked swarm of Arabs. We got all 
our stuff together shortly after midnight and then 
to bed. The next day we got up in good season but 
