The following extract from a letter from one of the British contingent on the N.Y.K.S. Suwa Maru, gives a bright account of the last phases of the journey to Egypt. Port Said, Nov. 27.
We left Colombo at 10 p.m. on November 16. It was a grand sight to see the lights tot rather over sixty ships lighting up the harbour and of over thirty more, the anchored outside for want of roo!
A canvas swimming-bath was rigged up forward in the steamer, and its decent size 2% ft. x20 ft. gave lote of room for quite a crowd of bathers at one time. It was open for three hours in the morning, and three more after dinner, and made good use of, I assure you. Bought some '"Lux" at Colombo, and do all my own washing, as the charges on board are rather stiff, 3d. for trousers, 3d. for shirts and id. for handkerchiefs. Several of our chaps are hard up, and are doing g for others at 1d. per piece. Am boxing every other day, and feeling very fit.. What with physical drill and other exercise, I scale 158 Ib. against the 144 Ib. I weighed on starting on October 16. Two of the chaps have got struck off the contingent for being too lazy to attend drill. This makes six cast-offs to date. A doctor on board, Dr. Weir, from Korea has been giving a series of lectures on first aid—very interesting and useful.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.