h the white-winged gulls circling around our masts and the
dolphins playing about our bow, we drank in the beautiful sight with
greedy eyes. Several steamers laden with gentlemen and ladies, and with
bands of music playing our national airs, steamed down the harbor to
meet us, and long ere we reached the quay we were surrounded by a fleet
of small craft gaily decked in colors and carrying crowds of cheering
and kerchief-waving people. Our national colors were to be seen
everywhere, even the lighthouse on the point being draped from top to
bottom in clouds of red, white and blue bunting. The Stars and Stripes
greeted the eye on every hand, and, let me say right here, that there is
no place where the flag of our country appears so handsome to the eyes
of an American as when it greets him in some foreign harbor. The storm
of cheers that greeted us from the throats of the enthusiastic
Sydneyites we answered as best we could, and the strain upon our vocal
organs was something terrific. Viewed from the steamer's deck the city
of Sydney and the beautiful harbor, surrounded by the high hills and
bold headlands, presented a most entrancing picture. Clear down to the
water's edge extend beautifully-kept private grounds and public parks,
and these, with grandly built residences of white stone, with
tower-capped walls and turrets that stand among the trees upon the
hillside, glistening in the sunshine, made the whole picture seem like
a scene from fairyland. At the quay there was another crowd of cheering
people, and it was with difficulty that we made our way to the four-horse
tally-ho coaches and to the Oxford Hotel, where quarters had been
arranged for us.

The entrance to the Oxford Hotel, as well as the dining-room, was
handsomely decorated in red, white and blue, evergreens and colored
lanterns, and, after receiving a brief greeting from U. S. Consul
Griffin, we retired to our rooms to prepare for the formal welcome to
Australia that was to be given to us that night at the Royal Theater.

We were to spend some little time in Australia, and that we had fallen
among friends was evident at once from the reception that had been
accorded us. It was a relief to know that our voyage was at least over
for a time and to feel the solid land once more beneath our feet, though
we parted with Capt. Morse with regret, he having endeared himself to us
all by the uniform kindness and courtesy that he had shown our party on
the long ocean tr