all of them in love with one sweet young man, and they hold his hand on deck. The other passengers look at them in astonishment, if not disgust. Americans are said to be "loud." I don't believe they are half as bad as they are reported to be. A German ship captain once said to me: "The Americans are, as a rule, our best behaved passengers, followed by the Germans. The worst behaved are the English.". . . In the traveling I have done, I have seen few "loud" Americans, but I have seen many "loud" English. And it is the English who criticise us most.
Tuesday, April 29.—We have seen no land since
leaving Port Said, except that we passed the island of
Crete. Some say we passed it last evening, and some
say we passed it this morning: it has been pointed out
to me twice, and both sights of it were very hazy. . . .
Ships are not seen as frequently in the Mediterranean
as in the Red Sea; we have seen but one
steamship in two days—a big P. & O. liner en route
to India. On the Red Sea, a half-dozen were frequently
in sight at one time. The explanation is that
the Mediterranean is wide, and ships keep a considerable
distance from each other, whereas the Red Sea
is often almost as narrow as a river. . . . There
are two women on board from Johannesburg, but they
did not know each other there; indeed, they had never
heard of each other before coming on board. Each
says of the other: "I cannot imagine who she can be.". . .
When a German leaves the ship's table, he
