6 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON 



caught the first red glow of the crater, and two hours later we 

 were near enough to dimly discern the outline of the cone shaped island 

 mountain, and to see plainly the red lava torrents that tumbled down 

 its sides and were quenched in the sea. We all staid up until the island 

 was lost to sight, and left the deck only when a faint reflection on the 

 gathering clouds was all there was left to us of one of the most impres- 

 sive sights. 



We passed the straits of Mycenae so early in the morning that none 

 of us were up, and on Monday we saw Crete in the distance. By this time 

 the boat had developed a pretty fair roll, but few were ill, and the deck 

 games went on that is, for the men. On Tuesday noon we were behind 

 the breakwater at Port Said and surrounded by coaling scows, crowded 

 by dirty Arabs who did the coaling with baskets. As the air was full 



PORT SAID WATER FRONT. 



of coal dust a half dozen of us secured a boat and went ashore, spending 

 the afternoon in roaming the sandy streets, followed by a crowd of beg- 

 gars, jugglers, pox-pitted street venders, sellers of indecorous photo- 

 graphs, and all of ^the riffraff of the nastiest of all the cities of the Orient. 

 Port Said is built on soil, chiefly sand, that was dumped there dur- 

 ing the excavation of the canal. It is a busy, bustling place, due to the 

 constant arrival and departure of steamers. It has a fair harbor made 



