Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 286
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[Page 286]
[cup]board as much as us. So the French scheme is comfortable if not beautiful.
The Governor of Martinique gave a dinner to celebrate our arrival, and Frenchman and Briton sat alternately round the board. I cannot describe the dinner in detail; but I remember that the comestibles were very wonderful and the potables still more so. There were at least fifteen courses during and between each of which a different drink was served. Our hosts seemed undismayed, but many of us poor innocents regarded the ordeal with trepidation. At one stage of the proceedings a wary senior officer had a row of nine full and half full glasses arranged in line abreast in front of his plate. As we had no French and our hosts little English, for a while the eating and drinking were carried on in an uncanny silence. but as the dinner progressed there arose before long a spiritied conversation in the weirdest jargon imaginable, accompanied by gesticulations of a variety and expressiveness of which we should never have thought ourselves capable. After dinner French and British arm in arm found their way back to their ships - Heaven knows how - but it was done, and thus in the outer seas is the Entente Cordiale cemented.
Apart from the difficulty of intercourse we found Martinique a delightful spot, and it was with great regret that we got orders to leave. The ship sailed on February 2nd for Maraca Island and Trinidad.