FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 349 
one while homeward bound. We had seen few birds, few fishes 
excepting flying fish and practically no phosphorescence. 
Friday September 1 was considerably cooler and I was still 
feeling anxious on account of lack of news frém home. One of 
the nurses summoned me to see a sick man in the second cabin 
who was on his way to Mayo clinic as a last hope, after many 
years of intense suffering. His case was pronounced hopeless by 
his physicians at home. He was a fine manly fellow, able to be 
about but with years of frightful suffering behind him. I hope 
I was able to cheer him up a bit, as courage is one’s best asset. 
Stoner and the four tuataras were all doing well. In the deck 
sports there was an exciting tug of war between selected teams 
from the British and American passengers, the Americans win- 
ning both times. Wylie, who was a heavy-weight athlete in his 
college days and still a formidable man where weight counts, 
won considerable glory in this event. Glock was one of the 
championship couple in the deck quoits tournament. These deck 
sports are a prominent feature on all British ships and do much 
to vary the monotony of long voyages and serve also to keep the 
passengers in good physical condition. 
The next morning, September 2, I was seated at the breakfast 
table when a steward brought me a marconigram from my 
daughter at Detroit, Michigan, saying that all was well at home. 
It was interesting to note that the message was received several 
hours before it was sent, which of course was due to the differ- 
ence in longitude of the sending and receiving stations. 
The sea became rather ‘‘lumpy’’ as we neared the American 
coast. There was much drinking on board as the passengers 
were taking advantage of their last chance before reaching pro- 
hibition territory. There seemed to be little effort to restrain 
them and they kept up a veritable ‘‘rough house’’ nearly all 
night with a good deal of profane and even indecent language. 
September 3 was our last Sunday at sea. The services were 
poorly attended as a number of passengers were suffering from 
the ‘‘morning after’’ effects. We packed our trunks for the last 
time before reaching home as we were but two hundred miles 
from San Francisco. 
Dr. Stoner was a good deal better. The poor fellow had not 
been off the ship since leaving Wellington and missed landing 
at both Rarotonga and Tahiti, but the sea voyage with its rest 
and medical attention had doubtless been a good thing for him. 
