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steadily the last week, although we lost the tradewinds earlier. The weather
has been quite hot and I wear only flannel trousers & boots not only because
its hot but to save washing if possible & make my things last till we get to
England. I'm sorry now I didn't get you to send-on all my odds of clothing as
they're no use there now & I could well use the flannel as one of these is
wearing out quickly. The sea has not been very rough nor too much water
washing over the deck & this is certainly a far better, altho' slower way
than via Cape Horn. I am terribly glad we didn't go that way as I'll
describe it to you in detail later. My seasickness has quite gone and
I'm gaining in strength daily, altho' its a slow process owing to the food.
(also in detail later) & especially the lack of green vegetables although
in the last week or so we had lime juice handed out which is supposed
to make up for the lack of greens & prevent scurvy. I have been
aloft on several occasions helping to change the sails - they take off the
good heavy Cape Horn "suit" and put up older, thinner ones - Tradewind
rags they call them. The tradewinds are the object of all sailing vessels.
They are warm steady winds known to blow in certain directions
at certain times of the year. There are the Indian Ocean, North and South
Atlantic & North and South Pacific trades, and once we round Africa we have
only the Doldrums to think of. We may have trouble rounding Africa
as we did in the Australian Bight as we will be going the wrong way
against the west winds or "roaring forties" as they are called because
they [crossed out] are found near the 40th parallel of latitude, north & south.
We passed a steamer the other night & communicated with them
& they will report us on arrival in port (we have only a weak
recieving wireless set for the captain's entertainment & never hear any news) so