268 The National Geographic Magazine 



Capt. J. J. Gallagher and Capt. R. Sew- 

 all, of the Army. Connected also with 

 the relief expedition were Lieut. J. B. 

 Clayton, Lieut. J. R. Chusch, and Lieut. 

 J. Riley, assistant surgeons, U. S. A. ; 

 Sergts. J. P. Edmunds, W. H. Thomas, 

 and four privates belonging to the hos- 

 pital corps of the army. With the Dixie 

 went also a number of correspondents 

 for magazines and newspapers and sev- 

 eral photographers and artists.. The 

 Outlook was represented by Mr George 

 Kennan, the Century by Mr G. C. Cur- 

 tis, McClure by Messrs A. F. Jaccaci 

 and G. Varian, Harpers by Mr S. C. 

 Reid, Leslies by Mr G. B. Lucky, and 

 in addition some fifteen of the leading 

 newspapers of the United States sent 

 able and experienced correspondents. 

 In the list of passengers were also in- 

 cluded the names of Mr G. de Medeuil 

 and Chas. Van Romondte, citizens of 

 Martinique, who had suffered severe 

 bereavement and financial loss in the 

 destruction of St Pierre and who kindly 

 furnished man3 r eager inquirers with de- 

 tails concerning their native isle. 



ON BOARD THE DIXIE 



The expedition sent on the Dixie was 

 unique in several ways. It is greatly 

 to the credit of the Army and Navy that 

 the vessel could be coaled, loaded with 

 1,265 tons of relief stores, and sent rap- 

 idly gliding toward the stricken islands 

 in the West Indies in the space of about 

 four days. As an illustration of the 

 spirit of S3'mpathy and love for all man- 

 kind fostered by our great Republic, the 

 relief expedition sent on the Dixie and 

 all pertaining to it can be looked on 

 with pardonable pride. 



The voyage of the white cruiser on 

 her mission of mercy was memorable 

 also for the unprecedented assemblage 

 on her decks of travelers and explorers 

 who had visited and were familiar not 

 only with the well-beaten highways of 

 the world, but manj' of her most remote 



and difficult byways. Each afternoon 

 informal lectures were given by some 

 one from among the passengers for the 

 benefit of the sailors, who gathered about 

 with eager faces to learn from Hill of 

 the beauties and mysteries of the West 

 Indies, to travel with Kennan over the 

 trackless snow and witness the mar- 

 velous auroras of Siberia, or explore 

 with Borchgrevink the desolate wilds 

 of the Antarctic continent. Walking 

 from group to group on the deck, as the 

 good ship glided southward, especially 

 during the moonlit evenings, one could 

 catch fragments of well-told narratives 

 of life in the most remote corners of such 

 countries as Russia, India, and Corea ; 

 or of the Philippine and Cuban cam- 

 paigns and the entry of Americans into 

 the Forbidden City. Some of our num- 

 ber had but recently been in Africa, and 

 told of experiences on the firing-line of 

 each of the contending armies in the 

 Boer war. Others spoke of wild life in 

 Alaska, Indian campaigns in Arizona, 

 studies artistic or scientific in Australia, 

 New Zealand, Hawaii, Samoa, and other 

 places, some bearing names made familiar 

 by recent writers in histor3 r and others so 

 remote and wild that the general public 

 knows not of their existence. I can 

 truthf ully say to the generous members 

 of the National Geographic Society, 

 that their representatives on the Dixie 

 found themselves in a congenial atmos- 

 phere, and amid surroundings most 

 stimulating to them as representatives 

 of a great society, whose grand aim is 

 to lead the inhabitants of the world to 

 know the marvelous wonders of their 

 dwelling-place. 



On the morning of May 19 we passed 

 low-lying Sombraro,a fragment of aflat, 

 calcareous platform, and a little later 

 sighted the island of Saba, the most 

 northern of the volcanic Caribbees. 

 The latter island is the summit portion 

 of a volcanic mountain, built principally 

 about a central crater, but judging from 

 distant view, at least two lower craters 



