170 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
In the smoking room Thomas had a heated argument with some 
Australians who were roundly cursing America on account of pro- 
hibition. I suppose they thought it might be catching! It was 
really amusing to find the colonials so incensed against the United 
States on account of strictly domestic affairs, such as our pro- 
hibition laws. 
At dinner that evening the band played ‘‘The Star Spangled 
Banner’’ in honor of the day and all passengers stood up in recog- 
nition. Such international amenities always move me greatly. 
They make me feel that blood is thicker than water and that old 
England is really the mother country in spite of all efforts of our 
hibernian countrymen and others to ‘‘twist the Lion’s tail!’’ We 
responded with hearty good-will when the dinner ended with the 
strains of ‘‘God Save the King.’’ I could not help thinking of how 
great the geographical distribution of my July Fourths had been 
for the preceeding five years,—1917, Barbados; 1918, Antigua; 
1919, in the hospital at Rochester, Minn.; 1920, in camp in Mon- 
tana; 1921, at home in Iowa City and 1922 in the South Pacific 
en route to New Zealand. 
In, the evening we had a lecture by Professor Chant of the 
University of Toronto who was leading a party to a remote spot 
on the northwest coast of Australia for the purpose of observing 
a transit of Venus due sometime in September. What struck me 
most forcibly was the very generous support given by the Austra- 
lian Government to this scientific expedition. It had volunteered 
to meet all the expenses of the entire party from the time it land- 
ed at Sydney and during the journey of some thousands of miles 
to and from their remote station on the northwest coast. Not only 
was free transportation of the party and its bulky equipment fur- 
nished, but quarters and commissary supplies during the entire 
time spent in Australia, which would be some three months as I 
understood it. 
The next morning the ocean was a little rough and some of our 
party were again afflicted with mal de mer. There was a slight 
following sea, a northerly wind and occasional rain squalls which 
sent us below. I had a talk with Captain Wills about the war and 
he finally expressed his feeling and that of his fellow countrymen 
about the late entrance of the United States into the world con- 
flict, although he showed no bitterness. 
The wind rose during the next night. By breakfast time on 
July 6 the sea was quite rough and a good many passengers were 
