66 
FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
have done so, but the beating of the screw wakened 
him, and he went below. The crew are turning out in 
regular tropical kit now. A dungaree jacket, trousers, 
a belt, and broad straw hat is about all. 
Tuesday. — The wind has freshened, and is blowing 
from the N.W., and we are bowling along merrily. But 
it ought to be blowing from the N.E., for we are in the 
track of the trades for this time of the year, so the Books 
say. Yesterday was very hot, with towering white cumuli 
rolling up from the horizon almost to the zenith, perfectly 
reflected in the calm, 
steely-blue sea. On 
such hot, still days 
we feel very lazy, and 
this northerly breeze 
is welcomed by all. 
e We signalled a 
steamer this morning, 
the first we have 
spoken to. The flags, 
as they lay strewn 
about the poop, looked 
splendid in the bright 
sunlight. How crude 
they look at home in 
our delicate grey light ! 
Here, the reflected complementary tints are so vivid that 
the crudity of the primary red, yellow, and blue colours 
disappears. I spent the afternoon splicing loops to the 
