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[Page 37]
7
put in an appearance and sent over the mails from Sydney. I was lucky enough to receive a letter, the second since leaving home. I read it again & again; it was like a tonic. If the people left behind only knew how we long for letters they would surely write often. Our fleet now assumes considerable proportions and the harbour is crowded with ships of all kinds. Several captures have been made of vessels making for the port & a guard from my company has been placed on the "Madang" and "Sumatra", the former being a recruiting steamer, the latter an island trader and passenger boat. The conditions on the "Madang" are extremely bad. Although a very small vessel she contains no less than 88 persons. The whole of the lower deck reeks with perspiration, and the foetid breath of the natives and Chinese crammed into this foul smelling place is nauseous to a degree. I went all over her and in the midst of the squalor and filth found a little child crowing in his dusky mother's arms. I could not help speaking a word or two, and the little black arms were held out to me in that winning way of babyhood & tugged irresistibly at my heartstrings. I shook the little chap by the hand and he laughed and gurgled, evidently thinking it great fun. Children seem the same the world over, and I find it impossible to pass them by without trying to win a smile, which lights up their little faces like a ray of sunshine.
This afternoon I went to Chinatown (as we call the Chinese quarters) to make a few purchases and afterwards visited the native hospital. The latter was very interesting although rather sickening in some respects. Drs. Skeat and Maguire, with whom I went, thoroughly enjoyed my look of disgust; they of course were in their element. The natives