ROUND THE WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume VIII, Issue 696, 16 December 1902, Page 3

ROUND THE WORLD.

ON TIIE .western ocean,

'('Vri'ttal by a Young New Zealander No. 2.

As 1 sit now, just after dinner, we arc on the Western Ocean, over 1200 miles from the Clyde, and expecting to make tiie land at the entrance of the Strait of Uellcisle (between New-

foundland amt Labrador) sometime .this evening. The -ship is one of the Allan Line, registered in Glasgow, a big cargo and cattle boat, just'returned from Capetown, whither she had .taken a load of horses from London, and now on her way from Glasgow, to Quebec and Montreal with general cargo. The round voyage generally takes about. live weeks, ten days each

way at sea, the rest of the time discharging and loading. She is only two years old, quite a modern, cargo hoat- There are four of us in the en-

gine room. We are all young men ; chief included. Of course, the other,s are all Scotchmen ; but Colonials, especially New Zealand boys, don’t seem to lie looked on as anything but fellow

beings, I have always found a welcome for a New Zealand man wherever I have”'been. Midsummer is as

cold out here on the sea as midwinter.

,So far the trip has been very hue, exceptionally so for the North Atlantic, though, as 1 now write, we are running at half-speed through the fog we have all read about, off the Newfoundland coast, ft is a queer thing ; the sun is shining, and yet the mist hangs on the sea. You cannot see half-a-milc away in any direction for injurs at a time. I left Glasgow at. a day's notice—pretty sharp work. I,ast evening, we passed through the Straits of Belleisle, quite close to the land on one side, reporting our number ,to a lighthouse which has been fitted with Marconi’s system of wireless telegraphy. It was bitterly cold. And no wonder : at tea-time, there were nine icebergs in sight, one witlnn about quarter of a mile of the _ ship, •and the lee-side of an iceberg is not at all tropical, I can assure you. The waves were breaking up against the ice in great fashion. We had good luck in getting through the Straits. ■The skipper had made up his mind to Stop at 3 p.m., and wait for dark, knowing that wo were near the land •id ought to seo the light; and, just j. 3 he was about to give the order,the fog cleared away, showing the land (Belleisle) about a dozen miles away. It was full speed ahead then, to get reported and through the narrowß before SMALL WORLD. Sundav.—'The day of rest, even for the sea-'farer ; the day he does no extra work on ! And such a beautiful dav ; sun shining, warm, blue sky, water as smooth as a pond, land only four or five miles away on the port, •side, land settled all along, the shore •just as our New Zealand is ; wooden houses, green paddockp .'® forest, which grows from the sea. to •lie hill-tops —the whole has such a home look to me. The world again moves very small; _ in conversation mst now with one of the cattle foremen aboard, I find that he was one of the passengers by the Wairarapa on her last, journev when she drove onto the Great Barrier. Strange tnat 1 should come across a survivor of the wreck here, on the Western Ocean o foreman cattleman, too. He tens uie he has been dealing in horses and cuttle all his life ; had been m Lanterbu'rv, New Zealand, mr a good v mb. at, 'the business ; had been from one rm i of New Zealand to the other m bargaining, knowing such places as Gisborne, Opotiki, and_ 'fauranga well} uui was then making 101 New Zealand after a business trip to Sydney, meaning to travel to his home in loronlo duciim the next summer. Now he navels the Western Ocean, but confesses to a soft corner or New Aa Tuesday—Montreal this time c nrrived and tied up by 3.3 d p m-, m the very finest of weather. It has opened mv understanding to come up the bt. Law-nee thus. My ideas ot distance tithfed from schooldays and maps are often disturlicd by l 1 * 1 " 1 experience of- them. lhus, I had at ways had the idea that the fat. s£«uJ £, beaming at full speed for two days ,nd ghts in fresh water-a current amt nigms ] u)Ur between running eight miles vci l,anks a genuine rivet, "e have micu B our tanks from the river on the wav and have been drinking and using iii/’wate~ for washing, etc., tor two „ Last night we pulled up at rfijil wo are booked ml a wee , • dutv keeps me aboard every third e\ ening only. I shall have time to 100. round. The weather us glonoit,, a hot a 5 out summer and as fine. Th whole tup, up the river is well wort

.seeing, close enough to see the people ashore and hear their voices, and also close enough to gel. a good idea of the land. It is mostly flat; well farmed too along each side; and dotted with houses and churches the whole way—--170 miles from Quebec to Montreal-