8 JUNGLE PEACE 



obstacles of man's devising, mental and physical 

 activity desert him: he hibernates. He swathes 

 himself, larva-like in many wrappings, and en- 

 cases himself in the angular cocoons furnished 

 for the purpose at one dollar each by the deck 

 steward; or he haunts the smoking room, and 

 under the stimulus of unaccustomed beverages 

 enters into arguments at levels of intelligence 

 and logic which would hardly tax the powers 

 of Pithecanthropus or a Bushman. 



From the moment of sailing I am always im- 

 pressed with the amusing terrestrial instincts of 

 most human beings. They leave their fellows 

 and the very wharf itself with regret, and no 

 sooner are they surrounded by old ocean than 

 their desires fly ahead to the day of freedom 

 from this transitory aquatic prison. En route, 

 every thought, every worry, every hope is cen- 

 tripetal. The littlenesses of ship life are magni- 

 fied to subjects of vital importance, and so per- 

 ennial and enthusiastic are these discussions that 

 it seems as if the neighbor's accent, the daily 

 dessert, the sempiternal post-mortem of the 

 bridge game, the home life of the stewardess, 

 must contain elements of greatness and good- 

 ness. With a few phonograph records it would 



