he time of sailing. We received
the farewell of the Governor General on board the "Ocean King," and His
Excellency's very kind words had an especially encouraging effect upon
my boys.

On reaching Sidney, B. C., and while taking in coal, some funny tricks
were played by voyageurs which I must not omit. To get ashore in spite
of the officers who kept watch on the wharf, some daring fellows jumped
from the vessel's rigging into the empty coal cars returning to the
wharf, coming back in the dark and the vessel being a few feet off the
wharf, the men had to climb aboard by a rope. Now it happened, that of
two friends, one was able to get up, the other was not, neither could
his friend help him, they however, contrived a plan, which they carried
out to perfection. The one on the wharf laid quietly down, while his
friend climbed aboard and there informed our officers that a man had
hurt himself by falling off the coal shoot, immediately there was great
alarm, lamps were hung over the side and the man discovered by his
clothes to be one of the voyageurs, a plank was shoved out over the
ship's rail, standing nearly upright and a line hove, (some suggested to
put the line around his neck.) However, he was hoisted aboard and
carried towards the cabin. While being carried, the apparently lifeless
one was seen to open his eyes three or four times, but too many hands
evidently had hold of him and so he was brought before the doctor, who
eagerly examined him, but soon pronounced him dead, "dead drunk" and
ordered him to be taken to his bunk, where he soon sat up laughing and
feeling good, to escape so easily.

On arriving in Alexandria, after a fine passage and good treatment we
saw our boats, which at the first sight and from a distance, were
condemned by the boys, but later experience changed our first
impression.

We left the wharf at Alexandria on the 8th of October, at 11 a. m. by
train. The first-class carriages were after the English style, but the
troop cars in which we were transported were less comfortable, they had
four benches placed fore and aft, two in the centre back to back and one
on each side with back to outside, lacking the usual conveniences of our
Canadian cars. The sides of the car were about four feet high, then open
to the roof. We were fifty-six in a car which made it uncomfortably
crowded. After leaving Alexandria I was surprised to see people
standing up to their necks in the swamps, cutting some kind o