340 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
August 17 was another bright day but with more sea running 
and a chilly wind from the south. Our first stop was to be at 
Rarotonga, eighteen hundred miles out from Wellington. This 
is one of the longest voyages taken by any regular passenger 
steamer in the world without putting in anywhere for fuel or 
provisions, the entire trip being 6,090 miles, traversing nearly 
60° of longitude and 80° of latitude, more than a third of the 
distance around the globe. The ship’s doctor saw Stoner that 
morning and diagnosed his case as a not very severe attack of 
jaundice. 
Those were indeed lonely seas, a few gulls and petrels being 
the only birds seen. We were getting acquainted with our fel- 
low passengers and Thomas, the best mixer in our party, went 
in for various deck sports and met more people, and enjoyed 
them more than any of the others. 
We received daily marconigrams and were in touch with the 
world all the way across. That day they indicated a better 
prospect for settling the coal strike in the United States, but 
little favorable news regarding the great railroad strike about 
which much disquieting comment appeared in the New Zealand 
papers. 
August 18 the ship was settling down to the routine of a long 
voyage and life was mainly a matter of eating, sleeping, smoking 
and talking. Awnings stretched over the upper deck one morn- 
ing, indicated that we were approaching the tropics. 
Stoner had been ordered to keep to his berth for a few days, 
much to his disgust. The doctor intimated that he feared com- 
plications and a possible operation which he very much dreaded 
with the facilities at his disposal on the Tahiti. 
On August 19 I read up on Rarotonga and Tahiti beforehand 
So as to save time while in port at these places and on the morn- 
ing of the 20th we were anchored off Avaruna, the capital of 
the Cook Island group, situated on Rarotonga, the largest and 
most important of the islands, with a circumference of about 
twenty miles. It is quite mountainous and the early morning 
view from our anchorage was exquisitely beautiful; the town 
nestled down between the mountains and the sea; there was the 
usual fringe of palms, and, beyond, the rugged mountain peaks, 
some of which were three thousand feet high. They were tinted 
with red from the rising sun and thrown into sharp relief against 
the purple and blue of the lower slopes. Two wrecked hulks 
teat ni en 
