FROM LONDON TO AUSTRALIA BY AEROPLANE 



265 



able beds, we were up at our usual hour 

 and made an early start for Suda Bay. 



Once again the weather was cruel to us. 

 First, we flew east to the heel of Italy, 

 and then headed across the open sea to 

 the island of Corfu. Low cloud and rain 

 forced us down to 800 feet above the sea. 

 The flight was miserable. The driving 

 rain cut our faces and obscured all dis- 

 tant vision. Almost before we realized 

 it, Corfu loomed up in the mist, and so 

 I altered the course to southeast and flew 

 down the coast of Greece. 



The bad weather made our voyage 

 down this rugged coast very hazardous, 

 and on one occasion, after passing 

 through a particularly low bank of cloud, 

 I was terrified to observe a rocky island 

 loom up in the mist directly ahead. It 

 was only by turning sharply at right 

 angles that I avoided crashing the ma- 

 chine against its precipitous sides. 



All this time we were flying at a height 

 of no more than 800 feet, and so it was 

 with intense relief that we reached Cape 

 Matea, the most southern point of Greece, 

 and headed across the sea to Crete. 



The clouds now lifted, and the mists 

 dissipated, unfolding a scene of rare en- 

 chantment. The high ranges of Crete 

 soon loomed up before us. A layer of 

 cloud encircled the island like a great 

 wreath. The mountains rose nobly above 

 it, and the coasts, rocky and surf-beaten, 

 could be seen below. All this, set in a 

 sea of wondrous blue, bathed in bright 

 sunshine, lay before us. It was a glad- 

 some and welcome sight. 



Wheeling above the town of Canea, 

 which is on the opposite side of a narrow 

 neck to Suda Bay, we soon located the 

 aerodrome and circled above it prepara- 

 tory to landing. 



the land of history and LEGEND 



The aerodrome is not of the best and 

 is rather a tricky place for negotiating a 

 landing, being surrounded on three sides 

 by high, rocky hills ; but we succeeded in 

 making a good landing. Here, too, we 

 were welcomed by an officer of the Royal 

 Air Force and a small crowd of inhabi- 

 tants, who gathered round the machine, 

 examining it — and us — with curious in- 

 terest. 



With the knowledge that on the mor- 



row our longest oversea flight, in this 

 half of the voyage, awaited us, we spent 

 most of the afternoon in a particularly 

 thorough overhaul of the machine, and 

 then accepted our R. A. F. friend's in- 

 vitation to look over the town and take 

 tea at his house. We found Canea to be 

 an extremely picturesque and interest- 

 ing old place. Its massive castle walls, 

 its narrow, cobbled streets, and its quaint, 

 old-fashioned, but substantial, buildings, 

 reminiscent of a bygone age, are all in 

 keeping with its history, which runs back 

 of the Christian era, and its legends, 

 which run back a league or two further. 

 Our pilot excited our admiration by 

 the expert way in which he steered us 

 through a maze of rough-surfaced alley- 

 ways, our Ford causing a great scatter- 

 ing of children and dogs — both of which 

 appear to thrive here in large numbers. 



AX ATTACK OF "PRICKXY HEAT*' 



Eventually he conducted us to a quaint 

 little cafe — a sort of tavern, at which the 

 people seem by custom to foregather for 

 a cup of coffee before dinner. The 

 cafe-au-lait was excellent, and, as our 

 host racily recounted his experiences, I 

 came to the conclusion that life in Canea, 

 small and isolated as it is, holds com- 

 pensations, and is not nearly as dull as 

 it appears at first glance. 



The short run home to our R. A. F. 

 friend's house was certainly not monot- 

 onous, but we arrived undamaged and 

 undamaging. Since the house was rather 

 small to accommodate unexpected guests, 

 we cheerfully agreed to sleep in the small 

 British hospital close by. We turned in 

 early, planning to take a good night's 

 rest and get away betimes in the morn- 

 ing. 



A few minutes after putting out the 

 lights, I heard my brother Keith tossing 

 about in bed, and called out to know if 

 anything ailed him. "Yes," he said, "1 

 fancy I'm getting prickly heat.'' A few- 

 minutes later I got a tone!: of it myself, 

 and, bounding out of bed, reached for the 

 candle. The beds were full of prickly 

 heat! "Prickly heat*' held the fort in 

 large and hungry battalions. 



We retreated and spent the night curled 

 up on the floor of an adjoining room. 

 When we turned out we found that it had 



