of cricket
matches between authors and artists. Did not have eleven authors, so
going along road picked up utter strangers one a soldier in front of
embracing two girls. Said he would come if girls came too--all put in
brake. Mrs. Barrie said the Llewellen Davis' were the originals for
the Darlings and their children in Peter Pan. They played a strange
game of billiards suggested by Barrie who won as no one else knew the
rules and they claimed he invented them to suit his case. Sat up until
three writing and packing. The dinner was best have had this trip in
London.

Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo.

S. S. February 11th, 1907.

To-morrow, we will be in Banana, which is the first port in the Congo.
When I remember how far away the Congo seemed from New York and London,
it is impossible to believe we are less than a day from it. I am so
very glad I came. The people who have lived here for years agree about
it in no one fact, so, it is a go-as-you-please for any one so far as
accurate information is concerned, and I am as likely to be right as
any one else. It has been a pleasant trip and for us will not be over
until some days, for at Matadi, which is up the river, we will probably
live on the steamer as the shore does not sound attractive. Then I
shall probably go on up the river and after a month or six weeks come
back again. At Boma I am to see the Governor, one of the inspectors on
board is to introduce me, and I have an idea they will make me as
comfortable as possible, so that I may not see anything. Not that I
would be likely to see anything hidden under a year. Yesterday was the
crossing of the Equator. The night before Neptune, one of the crew,
and his wife, the ship's butcher, and a kroo boy, as black as coal for
the heir apparent came over the side and proclaimed that those who
never before had crossed the Equator must be baptized. We had crossed
but I was perfectly willing to go through it for the fun. The Belgians
went at it as seriously as children, and worked up a grand succession
of events. First we had gymkana races among the kroo boys. The most
remarkable was their placing franc pieces in tubs of white and red
flour, for which the boys dived, they then dug for more money into a
big basket fitted with feathers and when they came out they were the
most awful sights imaginable. You can picture their naked black bodies
and faces spotted with white and pink and stuck like chicken