SECOND LETTER 



steamed out of King George's Sound on Wed- 

 nesday, 4th January, at 6 a.m. We are 

 having the most pleasant voyage I have ever experi- 

 enced. The wind is most favorable' to our progress. 

 We ran into the tropics on Saturday, and so are 

 pretty certain to have it warm for the next fortnight, 

 especially as we have to cross the equator. 



You will form some idea of our ship when I say 

 that it requires a crew, all told, of 187 to man her, 

 from the captain down to the bootblack. Our doctor 

 is the son of our distinguished fellow-Canadian, Sir 

 William Dawson, of Montreal. If the son should 

 turn out to be as good a man as his father, it will 

 always be considered an honor to have known him. 

 Part of our crew is made up of Africans and Moham- 

 medans. 



We were greatly amused to see these fellows 

 taking their meal, which consists largely of rice, with 

 curry or gravy. They sit down upon the deck 

 around a dish. One pours in the gravy, when each 

 with his right hand mixes up from the pile before 

 them a ball, half the size of his fist, and puts it in 



