-?9- 
Bill picked up a very nice American couple named Sheriff, 
who are going around the world, stopping whenever and wherever they 
like. At the moment they are headed for Java, but have no plans 
beyond that, 
April 2 -Singapore^ § ' \^;C^ L I l|i 
We landed about eight in the morning. Raymond Creekmore of 
Baltimore, a young artist working his way c round the world, was on 
the dock- to meet us* We had written him we were coming, and invited 
him to lunch with us. We had also written A. St. Alban Smith of 
Johore, and received a. note from him saying th t he was ill, but 
hoped we would come out and see him* He had sent his car and 
chauffeur for us, and we went out to see him. He lives now near the 
Sea View Hotel, having sold his Johore estate. He is badly 
crippled with a form of arthritis, but still inte ested in snake 
collecting, and told us all sorts of harrowing tales. Twice he ha s 
been bitten, once by a cobra and once by a krait, and recovered both 
times to his great surprise. He sent to London the record king 
cobra of all time, 18 feet 7 inches long. It was one that he had 
caught himself - simply grabbed it with his bare hand when he saw 
it was about to bite one of his boys. He has a Chinese boy who 
has absolutely no fear of snakes, Ah Cheong, and all morning Ah 
Cheong was kept busy bringing various specimens up to the verandah 
for us to see. There was a mother-of-pearl cave snake, a brown 
and gold cobra, a Gray ! s viper that was so fat and good natured 
they called it Sophie Tucker • As we left Mr. St. Alban Smith gave 
me a compact, made of Siamese silver, with lovely. figures of 
Siamese dancers. He said he always gave them to ladies who came 
to see him, as a souvenir. 
We had lunch at the Adelphi, and Bill w* s thrilled to find 
that Dr. Osorio had succeeded in getting him a Rolleiflex camera 
on the German boat, and ha'! left it for him at the Consulate. 
After lunch Basapa joined us, with the sad news that the 
jaguar we had brought for Japan, had died in Singapore before he . 
could send it on to Kobe. 
We sailed at 4.?0, and spent ail afternoon and evening 
on deck. We s-aw a school of small porpoises. We stayed up until 
11. 550, so that I would be conscious when we crossed the Equator - 
my first crossing, and the ship gave me a certificate signed by 
the purser and by Father Neptune. Then to bed, and happy to 
find that a breeze had come ur, so that our cabin was much cooler 
to-night, right on the Equator, than it was lr st night, when we 
were in the Straits of Malacca. 
April 3 - At sea 
Could see flying fish from the dining-room porthole all 
the time I was eating breakfast. 
At ten o ! clock we anchored off Muntok, Bangka Island, 
and took quite a few passengers aboard, and let off one Dutch 
family, with a large number of small blond children. The island 
looked tvpicailv tropical with a "sandy beach, a line of coconut 
palms, a/ yellow" hotel, a row of thatched houses, and high forested 
hills beyond. A lighthouse and a beached steamer marked the entrance 
to the harbor, which is evidently very shallow. From time to time 
as we were approaching we could see waves breaking on the reefs . 
