u can get a hell of a good
lunch, but you have to pay for it". There are trees everywhere among
the houses. Many with tall, branchless stems and a spreading top,
evidently of the fir family. Lombardy poplars and tall dark cypresses
are everywhere.

Between us and this old Castle, at the water's edge, stands a lofty
stronghold, black and forbidding, and I believe many atrocities were
perpetrated here in the days of Garibaldi. Its high castellated
battlements look as if they had a history.

We finished coaling about 3 p.m. and expected to get off at once, but
no, the ship had snapped one of her cables and we could not sail until
the 20 ton anchor and 50 fathoms of chain were fished up, and
apparently this had not been done before dark, and we must now lie
here till to-morrow. The harbour has a rocky bottom, and if an anchor
catches behind a rock such an accident is apt to occur from a sudden
jerk, and this is the second time it has happened to our boat in this
self-same place.

_November 29th._--Our whistle began its terrific row at 4.30 this
morning. Its blasts are most unpleasant and seem to affect the stomach
more than the ears. We began to circle round the "Mauretania" about 8,
and by 8.30 we had cleared the breakwaters and were going down the
Bay, the morning gloriously fine, almost a dead calm, and the houses
and rocks sparkling in the sun. The whole forms a magnificent picture.
"See Naples and die." We sailed close in to Ischia and we could see
the terraces where the vines grow, beginning at the top of the
perpendicular rocks and ascending the hill-sides like a giant's
staircase. We pass a big liner flying the French flag, and she dips
her stern flag as a salute.

At 8.15 p.m.--We passed Sardinia, but all that was visible was the
revolving light of the lighthouse on the south point. There is now a
strong gale, and we pitch and roll a good deal. But the wind is soft
and warm, blowing from the African desert instead of the snowclad
Apennines.

_November 30th._--A beautiful day and warm.

I have been having a talk with one of our two captains of the ship. He
tells me we have the most powerful wireless installation afloat,
except on the big battleships. In Lemnos we can easily pick up the
Poldhu messages, although our receiving distance is given as 2000
miles only. We can send out messages to a distance of 500 miles, but
the only one allowed just now is the S.O.S. Between Lemnos and Sicily
we received a me