Whilet the refuelling was belnx, done we had ample opportunity examine the big gray ship and make the acquaintance of its crew. The contrast between this large, eom= fortable passenger plane and. the Ville amphibians with which the earliest fights up and down the Yangtze were made was conspicuous. Wo found nothing nicer between La Bourgeat and Croydon. Fourteen wohofstered seats were provided with najustable backs, headrest, strone and the paper bags for emergency ture. Smokers were happily surprise find not only no prohibitions but all "conveniences provided from specially designed ventilators an'l ashtrays to the company's own matches, Every desire was met in. stanly by a neatly uniformed stewer whose English wag both and polite and whose efficiency fav' unmistakeable evidence of proficient training. At noon he served us with coffee, and sandwiches quite to our: last.
The passenger cabin was compteteshut off from the "navigators bridge" in which the pilot, ce-pilot and radio operator had plenty ut room and exquisitely arranged equine ment. The plane is so constructed that noise Is reduced fo a minimum, and there was not the least difficulty any time In carrying on, ordinary conversation. For steady riding an! 8 sense of substantial security neitke Luna nor wafer could offer anything Dotter and both take-offs and the landings were s0 beautifully execute? as to be almost imperceptible, eagle Expanses of Flood The printed timetable calls for departure from Shanghai at 7. am. with arrival "In Hankow at 1030 twenty-five minutes for refuelling and an hour and five minutes Thong. Actually we did not. leave the Hankow fold until 11.05 a.m. and were fifteen minutes behind schedule in landing at Ichang. Visibility was! poor. The gray sky offered a low coiling and we feared the view would be disappointing. But the low. fly Ing gave us an excellent view of the Han River Valley with its tragic expanses of flood. Thad flawn over this region when the scars of the fearful flood of 1931 were still discernible in broken river banks and! devastated farm lands. I had been in Hankow last, summer when the Han River rose like a tidal wave and the waters of the Yangtze stood severa, feet above the Hankow Bund. I karl come by train from Peipingg but two weeks since And had watched the angary frustrated overflow of the Yellow River rushing beside the railroad bed like a tawny, angry euged tion, tunable to escape from his den. Yo! T was utterly unprepared to see the vast expanse of flood water imprison: ed here In the lowlands beyond the Han, four' months after the tragedy had occurred. Our pilot assured us that there kad been a noticeable subsldance in the three weeks since he begun fying this course.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.