TRAVEL LETTERS
FROM NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, AND AFRICA.
Saturday, January 4, 1913.—This is written in the
Pacific ocean, on the ship "Sonoma," two days out of
Sydney, Australia, where we expect to land next Monday.
We have been on the ship seventeen days, and
the passengers and servants seem as familiar as people
with whom we have associated many years. In the
main, we have had a pleasant voyage, although the
weather was somewhat boisterous the first few days out
of San Francisco. We stopped eight hours at Honolulu,
and five hours at Pago Pago, in the Samoa Islands.
There was an elaborate celebration on board on Christmas
day, which included a big dinner, speeches, and a
dance, and we also had a similar New Year celebration,
although we actually had no New Year's day. At a
late hour on the 31st of December we crossed the 180th
meridian, and, when we awoke the following morning,
the date was January 2, 1913. Ships sailing westward
drop a day on crossing the 180th meridian, and ships
going eastward add a day. In traveling toward the
sun, the day increases in length, and, in a trip around
the world, this increase amounts to exactly twenty-four
hours. Every day we set our watches back from
twenty to thirty minutes, and when we reach Canton,
Ohio, on our return, this daily increase in the day's
