Viewing page 5 of 185

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-4-

Behind all the gaity of welcoming and speeding the Empress and her passengers, was the strain of the three-months' shipping strike. At the wharf we saw the President Pierce, the President Hays, and the Lurline, all of which have been tied up for months. On the Dollar boats the Chinese crew are not allowed any shore leave, and on one of the President boats the poor Chinese have not set foot ashore since last September. Why murder and mutiny have not broken out I can't imagine.

Among the women in Honolulu whom we met, the chief topic of conversation was the high price of oranges and lemons. Oranges are $1.50 a dozen, lemons $1.00. Neither of these fruits can be raised in the Islands on account of the Mediterranean fruit fly, and with shipping practically at a standstill, there are none in the market even at these high prices.

January 26-27

Quantities of albatross are following the ship, and give a fascinating display of gliding over the waves and through the spray.

January 28.

No albatross

January 29 - No such date: We cross the International Date Line and have no Friday in this week.

January 30.

The albatross are back, a few terns with them. Williams got some movies of them. Bill and I went up to the bridge to see what was the closest island, and found that we were between Midway and Wake, a little nearer to Midway, and probably the birds have come some three hundred miles over the ocean from there.

Weather still fine. The masquerade ball was held on the after deck, under a full moon. Just as it was about to begin, the ship was [[strikethrough]] practically [[/strikethrough]] stopped for [[strikethrough]] about [[/strikethrough]] half an hour, while an appendectomy was performed on one of the Chinese crew. 

^[[Feb. 4th We had beautiful weather all the way, with the exception of a few rough hours yesterday.]]

We had had various warnings about the difficulties we would have in Japan. We had been told that the climate was bad, the coffee foul, the photographic limitations irksome, the conveyances and accomodations dirty. None of these proved to be true. The customs regulations arestrict, and we had to list on our declarations the number of books we were bringing in, titles, etc., and "if unbounded, the number of pages;" also the number of rhinoceros horns and ^[[?]] stones. It was also a little disturbing to learn about the Japanese baggage express, which was promised to collect baggage and"send it in all directions". I did feel a little diffident about stepping off the good old British Empress, and facing an Oriental people of whom I knew so little, but we never had one moment in which to feel