Well, to continue; though it is a hard job doing so in this weather, & just after dinner too. We are passing some country now I shouldn't like to do much tramping in — hills of bare rock, gravel & shingle-slides, sandhills & sand, hills razor hacked not a blade of grass or green any- where. On my left Egypt; on my right Palestine. Well, if anybody promised it to me I wouldn't say thank you. And the weather since we left Colombo has been such that about the only thing to do between 10 am. & 4 pm. has been to look for a breeze & go to sleep. An old man in the 3rd went west a a couple of nights ago; but he had p been pretty feeble since he came on board the ship, & ill for ten days or so; so perhaps that couldn't be helped. But they must get it in the neck in the 3rd with six in a cabin and no fans. The only way I could go to sleep two nights was to chuck all the clothes off the bunk & lie down stark naked. That with a window opening on the sea & a fan going full tilt; & I lost more juice in the last week than in any year before. It's all right for the Sydney blokes — they think it's just nice & warm; & I dont mind it if I don't have to do anything; but otherwise, gimme something colder. Dressing for dinner is just like turning on taps all over your body; playing cricket you look as if you'd been under a waterfall. But we've had a breeze ever since we got into the Red Sea, & compared to some of the days that have gone before, today is mild. And the ice-cream every morning at 11 is very refreshing. Since we left Colom- bo nothing much has happened, the weather being such. A new round of games has been instituted in which I was wiped out in the first round in most cases, though I still survive into the third in bucket quoits. But cricket & quoit- tennis are the only games really worth playing. At the same time, I may say that I am nobly living up to the intellect- ual gifts of my forbears, winning the gent's prize in a book- title guessing competition the other night, though no pize has come my way yet. But they are handing out things on Monday night, at a fancy dress dance, so I may get a bargain tin of cigarettes, bought cheap at Suez, which we reach tonight about 10. We are going to the dance, or anyhow dressing up, either as the Klu Klux Klan or the Kelly Gang. Whinfield has promised to let us have a few revolvers & we are going to look for a few bombs & crackers in Suez. So the indica- tions are that we shall make a very resounding success. We have had a good few more arguments too, but have just about given up this Miss Rowe as a dud; she may be beaming in classics, bit I never knew anyone take less interest in anything important in the world around her. Apparently she is an earnest Christian, goes to church every Sunday on board, & rather embarrassed another girl on board who was dressing for dinner by carrying on an earnest discussion on prayer with her bloke underneath the windows After which she had to decide whether it would be right to go to the pictures that night, being Sunday: However she finally went, reckoning that the Lord wouldn't mind, I suppose, as the interest in the Fortieth Door was so intense (at the present moment the sub-heroine is held in the arms of a greasy Egyptian, while the villian is advancing a Sa broad & shiny snickersnee towards her throat; other side of door two Yank heroes hammering away in heroic fervour — to be continued in these theatre next week; great stuff); We managed to start her off one night by scoffing at the classics, but even then I could put a much better case for her than she usually does herself. A very distressing case for a 3 years scholarship at Oxford. You needn't have any pity for the girl; she isn't afraid of us, but quite rude sometimes. She is a bit mixed as to our characters though, especially mine; as she has to reconcile the vehemence of my controversial meth- ods with the sweetly chaste character of my verse, some of which McGrath showed her. You may think I am taking up a lot of space with her, but she has been a great worry to us all — it's not right that a modern intell- ectual girl, a University leader apparently, should be like this. But Christianity seems to do for them all. The Australian lads on the contrary get more & more interesting, or a least McGrath & Duncan do. I swapped theses with Duncan; he did a good one on progress involving a terrific amount of graft, & knows a whole of a lot about social problems, also has a sense of humour, which very few girls seem to have, I don't know what. He is mad on Bertrand Russell at present. Henning says one day "who is this Bertrand Russell, anyhow?" Duncan looks at him wonderingly for a moment & then burst out "Good God! have you ever heard of Jesus Christ?" He is going to London, too, which is cheerful. But in another way McGrath is the most interesting of the three; I think I told you about his woodcuts & so on — he is going to give me some of the best of them, & has also offered to do some for my poetry- book when it is published; which offer I grabbed with alac- rity. He is pretty keen on my verse & went to the touble of copying some of it out for himself; likewise Duncan. So you see that even I am creating my little sensation. Did I mention a bird called Strong & his wife, going home to do chemistry at London; the wife is an artist or at least was an art- teacher of sorts; so what with the lads I know at Home now, & this crowd, we are anticipating having some pretty jovial gatherings later on. And by gum! it's not so long to go now; 12 more days & I'll be in London. Well, I'll be glad to get a few letters from home anyhow.

Colombo was a great place, & I could do with a month or so, if not six, in Ceylon. But the gentle Cinga- lese can spell a tourist about as soon as he leaves Freeman tle, I think. Talk of mobbing! My sense of time & the calendar has gone to pot for the last three weeks, but if you look at the postmark on my last letter you will see when we I was at Colombo. We got to got into the harbour by about 3, & then had to mess around getting passports visaed & inspected & so on, until so that we didn't get on shore till about 4. And then the mobbing started. But gee! the romantic things we saw first: palm trees, tropical beaches, catamarans, big native sailing-ships — & Lord: I didn't tell you about my first flying-fish, days before. It was like what the poet Wordsworth says about his when he beholds the rain- bow, his heart leaps up, so was it when he was a boy, so is it now he is a man, you know the passage. That was me when I first saw a flying-fish skim the watery blue. But I have seen shoals of them since dashing hither & thither all over the place; unexpectedly small they are — not bigger than a sardine some of them. But to get back to Colombo.

We were in a sort of party which got itself formed I don't quite know how; McG., D., H, & me, & cove with a loud hearty voice, one Gerard from S. Aus., & two beautiful specimans of the Conquering Race, matter of fact, humourless, with a wholesome comtempt for & amusement at niggers, Marison & Fowler. Well, Gerard steered us all into some tourist agency, Pickfords by name, & demanded a car to seat us all & a driver with facts at his fingers' ends to take us to Mount Lavinia (which is a sea- side place & a hotel, not a mountain at all), the Cinnamon Gardens & other celebrated beauty spots of Ceylon (see Cook's pamphlets). Well, the trip was worth going, even with that crowd. I never saw a place with such beautiful surroundings, such wonderful streets & avenues — trees, millions of them, lawn, gardens, parks. We passed down a great avenue with wonderful bungalows on each side — all belonging to the English civil service. By gosh, no wonder the Conquering Race doesn't want to leave. I should- n't if I had a bungalow & grounds like that. But some belonging to the rich natives are beautiful buildings too; there was practically nothing really ugly or merely pretentious that we saw. Groves of palms & coconut trees that must have covered hundreds of acres. And I never saw a more cheerful lot than the natives. We passed through a big native quarter on the way to Mt Lavinia, Havelock Town, when all the population was coming home from work. Talk of colour! And the Buddhist priests in yellow stuck out above the lot of it. Shop & houses we saw, the shops all open & most of the houses; every possible thing for sale, rope & lollies & coconuts & vegetables; even one or two butchers. We saw one or two pretty primitive huts though; but but even they had a certain beauty from their surroundings. Ca It was a revelation as compared with the exterior of any NZ or Aus- tralian town. We got to Mt Lavinia in time to see the sun set & the surf break on the beach framed in palms, & to drink a lemon squash & discuss the price of postcards & genuine tortoise-shell cigarette cases, very cheap, & then drove back in the dark, the stars coming out & a not un- pleasant tropical smell all around us; the fires aglow in the Havelock Town houses & our lights showing up bare brown bodies as we glided along the road (Hummer roads) By gum! some of these natives have fine bodies, too; but others are pretty weak — the funny thing is that the weakest-looking seem to be the rickshaw men.

I forgot to tell you of one or two things on the way out. We visited a Buddhist Temple, set in beautiful grounds, but a very debased sort of thing inside. The walls all covered with paintings of the life of Buddha (the dead spit of the Xian legends too); but all done in a bastard European style — European dress mostly, European faces, the furniture a sort of debased & crude Gothic — the most extraordinary sight. But the grounds were all that could be wished for, with a novice about seven years old, I should say, in his yellow robes, & a lad to give us each some sort of sweel sweet-smelling sacred flower as we departed. And to run alongside the car make hideous noises until we all tipped him in return. My word, the insatiable appetite of these birds for tips beats the band; however you can't blame them, it's the tourists wot's done it; & it is a melancholy reflection to think that I have descended to the status of a tourist. Then when the car stopped so that Gerard could have his photo taken in a rickshaw, a native conjuror seized the oppor- tunity to exploit the exploitable & proceeded to do so with the most extraordinary English patter. He had a tired- looking Cob cobra in a basket & a peculiar sort of combined mouth-organ & flute on which he played to it; & a dilapid- ated a rag-doll which went by the name of Charlie Chap- palin & he positively guaranteed to make a mango-tree grow, immed- iately & conclusively, from seed to flower to fruit, that very minute or shortly after. So we said all right & off he went. But he started a lot of other tricks first, to work us up to the proper pitch of excitement, which annoyed the Conquering Race, who told him to get on with his mango & not play the fool. Notwithstanding which he insisted on opening the door of the case & removing an egg from Gerard's trousers, & sticking it on to his ear & his nose, & playing arounds with cups & balls; all of which properly impressed the more naive of us. So at last the sarcasm & impatience of the conquering race prevailing, he announced he would proceed to the unique affair of growing the mango-tree, first patting the tired-looking cobra benevolently on the head & giving another brief fantasia on his instrument. After which he proceeded to hold out the hat,as an indispensable preliminary. The Conquering Race was exceedingly annoyed at this, & stated emphatically that they knew that this was what it would come to; but we all forked out; but old Merlin the Magician wasn't satisfied until he had a real dinkum rupee before him; sixpences & shillings were as nothing in his eye without a rupee. All right says the C.R., I knew he was a swindler & a scound- rel; we can't afford to waste any more time here; come on driver, let her go; & before the more romantic of us could loosen up off dashed the car leaving Menkin stil pleading in a very ecstasy of longing for a rupee. I was very much annoyed at this, & it would probably have been a memory of disappointment all through my life had we not run into another conjuror next morning; who made a mango-tree grow rapidly & satisfactorily for the sum of two bob. And to prove that all was fair & above- board, no deception & everything strictly regular, he gave us a leaf each. Well, when we got to Mt Lavinia McG. & I had a short consultation & decided to form a party of revolt & secession immediately after dinner, which we had at a palatial place by the name of the Grand Oriental Hotel at the cost of 5 rupees, inclusive, each. We gave the other crowd the slip & with Henning walked out of the place plumb into the arms of a bird who wanted to sell McG. a silk suit & had tracked him to the hotel & lain in wait outside ever since. Luckily he turned out to be from a place where McG. had been recommended to go for some silk things to send home, & we all trailed along there with him. Just as we got there another bargainer leapt out of the shop next door, seeing my pipe, & preceeded to sell me 100 of Keith- les' 3 bob cigars. I would have bought some more too but for the difficulty of smuggling them into England with my luggage bulging as it is now. Then I escaped into Hindan- amani's where we stayed till midnight, having the most gor- geous time playing around with silks & shawls & kimonos & ladies' pyjamas; finally the bloke evidently judging McG was a man of experience started bringing out garments of even more intimate intention; but we managed to stifle a blush & intimated politely but firmly that we weren't buying lingerie on that occassion. When we seemed to flag a bit he urged us to have a cool drink & produced bottled beer for three — it went down well, too. Don't tell Bobby Stout this, as I told him I would keep off the drink. The proprietor evidently thought we were millionaires; for he looked us in the face with a childlike confidence towards the end of the night & said he expected we would buy at least £50 worth. By gum! I should have liked to set you & your sisters or a few of the girls I know loose in the middle of that stuff; some of the kimonos were the loveliest things on earth; Japanese, mostly, hand-printed & embroidered. Hell, if I'd been a millionaire I would have sent you a hundred or so quids' worth & a cheque to pay the NZ duty on it. I'll bet Kirk's would kid themselves if they could have get some of this stuff out. And do their customer in for about 500% profit, too, I bet. But you could put the loveliest thing in the most beautiful silk, for £4 or £5. I had great difficulty in restraining myself from plunging hopelessly; & even from buying a beautiful little silver tray or plate engraved & chased in the most complicated way, for 15/-. But I didn't. In the end the proprietor gave the three of is, in recognition of our noble efforts to keep the flag of commerce flying, a little brass bowl buckshee; which was very nice for Henning who had merely stood by sangui doing nothing, not even engaging in financial argument. Then we left the shop & were immediately engaged & nearly torn limb from limb by rival rick- shaw men who wanted to take us to the Y.W.C.A. where a lady was staying from the boat who was meeting her husband & going back to Australia & was to take McG's purchases back for him. Well, a wonderful ride it was, too, in the night, though of course the lady was in bed & asleep; & then on our way back to the jetty we ran into the tail end of a Mohammedan wedding procession & followed that up. Noise — cymbals, bagpipe, different kinds of drums, pipes; flares & incense; great poles with weird red decorations on them, & a crowd of all sorts of conditions; my word, we did think we were in luck. Then our man wanted to drop us for supper at an unsavoury looking place in the native quarter; but having a pretty shrewd idea what it was we declined & thinking of our pocket books we declined with thanks. Then back to the ship per rowing boat, engaging the owners thereof to call for us at 5 the in the morning to take us back. The ship was supposed to leave at 10 & we didn't want to waste any time. It was like a furnace on board, but we took off half our clothes & sat in the lounge & read or hung over the side & looked at the coaling & loading operations — all coolie labour, at 2/- per man per night. There was a lull in the operations & there the poor devils were, asleep all over the place, on the lighters or in a corner of the deck. Our boatmen were so much impressed with our importance or wealth that they turned up at 4am & had to go to sleep for an hour; & when then we had a wonderful crossing of the harbour to the shore; a perfectly quiet night, smooth water, stars very thick, a great black cloud over the town; we passed under the sterns of all sorts of big ships; & just as we got to the jetty the morning dawned. Thrills! my word; Colombo was the first place at which I felt really excited since leaving home. Then down to the Y.W.C.A. again, a place set in the most beautiful grounds; the streets full of more sleeping Cingalese, all over the place, on the stone pavement, any- where, in just their ordinary caps & later of big wagons drawn by the most diminutive oxen; everything to delight the heart of a tourist; women carrying loads on their heads; bright-coloured clothes; psu the most primitive customs bang next to the most up to date ones. Back again to breakfast at the Y.M.C.A on eggs fried in the most chaotic haphazard way I have ever seen & papaw; & then around the town on foot or per rickshaws to the native markets (as the departure of the ship kept being put off — it didn't go finally till nearly 4 in the afternoon) continually being rushed by diamond mer- chants or bead-merchants or beggars or small boys singing Tipperary in a way peculiarly their own or merchants — with shops just round the corner with the most wonderful bargains in elephants or gold rings. All of which we managed to shake off at not much cost to ourselves.

Well, I could tell you a good deal more if I weren't getting a paralyzed hand & the mail bag didn't close in 25 minutes. But what's the good? It's just tourist rhapsodising which I heartily despise; & any one thing would do for an article or a poem — I could easily do my 1000 words on the conjuror for example, & perhaps get a quid for it, & it might be worth reading then — & indeed perhaps I shall when I get to a more temperate climate. And valuable & unique as my experiences & impressions must be, no doubt you have read it all before. But by cripes! it's great to go through it all yourself.

Colombo wasn't the only thrill. My first night of Africa at Cape Guardafui had me well worked up, & God! these seas are simply liquid history. And think of it — Egypt on one side, Pales- tine on the other! And the most wonderful night last night I have seen since some of our old tramping nights. What s it's going to be like settling down to hard graft after this in London I don't know. However we shall see.

Well, give my love to everybody. Will you ring up Mrs Hooper & give her my special respects; I shall write to her as soon as I can — you might in the meanwhile show her these letters. Also same message to Challis.

You should see the Red Sea & Arabian Sea sunsets!