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pleasure seekers, tipping its wings to the famous Sydney
Harbour Bridge, and then speeding toward the northwest
and the next airport, Darwin. In a very short time the
lights of Sydney faded in the distance and there was not
much left to do but retire. 'Ve had to crowd into a corner
or stand up somewhere in the cabin while the steward made
up the bunks and assigned us to our places. It seemed to
us that we had put forth a lot of effort and used a lot
of time getting ready and using the bunks, for the little
amount of sleep we were able to get was interfered with
abruptly at four o'clock in the morning, when the steward
brought a cup of coffee to each passenger and instructed
each one to dress and prepare for landing at Darwin. Eight
and a half hours after take-off we landed at Darwin; so we
realized how fast our plane had traveled, for we knew it
was 1,966 miles from Sydney to Darwin.
At Darwin's aerodrome we found out how warm the
north part of Australia could be. It was dark in the early
morning hours, "cool," they said; but the passengers were
not used to that tropical weather and perspired freely as
they were escorted from the plane to the waiting bus that
was to take them into the city. .AIl we sped along the highway, all we could see was the four-foot grass and a few
trees. All the men were taken to Mess No. 1 building and
the one woman passenger to the hotel. Showers were available and, though the shower felt refreshingly cool, as soon
as one dressed again he felt as if he had not dried himself.
Perspiration flowed freely. Cool drinks were served, but
still it was a warm country. Then back to the bus and over
to the hotel for breakfast. After breakfast the passengers
were permitted to stroll about the streets near the hotel.
As the travelers awaited word that the plane was once again
ready to fly they could see the sun begin to rise over the
bay. Soon the light of day began to reveal the make-up of
the city, and we began to feel that we knew where we were.
We could see the bay and its few naval tugs, as well as
some of the city streets and shops. Then came word to
return to the aerodrome. On the trip there we got a better
idea of what Darwin was like. We found it was not a very
large place; houses were scattered here and there, most of
them being built high off the ground on concrete blocks or
piling of six or more feet in height. There was nothing very
attractive about Darwin; it appeared to be in a rather
unfruitful country.
When we boarded the plane and waited for the take-off,
we found that we had another man with us as passenger.
He joined us at the take-off in viewing the contours of
Darwin's harbor. While there was nothing outstanding
about it, there is something interesting for air travelers
where the coastline joins the breakers. The land in the background was flat and uninteresting, tropical but not picturesq.ue. And it was not long before we were flying at
10,000 feet at a speed of 238 miles per hour. The first large
body of land sighted was the island of Timor, that territory
in the East Indies that for so long had been shared by the
Dutch and Portuguese. Its bluish-gray hills could be seen
off in the distance as we passed over the Timor sea; and as
we approached we found the western portion of the island
we were to cross was very rugged, green and apparently
full of beauty spots. From the air we could see many cliffs
and ravines, which had been formed by the fast-moving
rivers down through the years. At the high rate of speed

BROOKLYN,

N. Y.

of our plane it did not take us long to cross the elongated
island and the Sawoe sea.
Next the island Flores. Heavy vegetation was seen to be
all over this island, and one or two plantation houses were
visible near the cultivated spots. Then the Flores sea came
under us, and multitudes of islands which looked from high
above like brilliant jade gems in the midst of deep-blue
water. Each one appeared to be a paradise all its own, and
most of them were very small. How striking they were,
those gem-like isles of green in the vast blue seas whose
pounding surf upon the shores formed a contrasting silverwhite setting! And on the horizon the huge billowy white
clouds interspersed with patches of blue sky served to
accentuate the beauty of the scene.
SINGAPORE

.AIl we reached the Java sea we beheld to the north the
shore of the fabulous island of Borneo. At the east there
were high mountains, but soon the terrain became flat and
marshy, there being many rivers draining into the sea.
In story books they have told of wild men of Borneo, and
when we saw a few palm huts occasionally we would wonder
whether there were some of the wild men living there. All
along the south coast of Borneo we flew. Then at 1: 35 p.m.
we crossed the equator and were soon over the islands lying
just below Singapore, which city of world fame is approximately sixty miles north of the equator. Once over the
harbor at Singapore we began to see the evidence that war
had been fought through recent years. Funnels of ships
and parts of hulls could be seen in the water. Docks had
been damaged. At the Civil Airport, Kallang, where we
were to land we could see the rusting steel frames of hangar
buildings that had been burned out during the war. Our
aircraft circled the city twice and then made a smooth landing on the steel mesh runway.
At the airport we were met by a pioneer Kingdom publisher who had served for many years in the Far East. Our
luggage was inspected and put on the airways' bus by which
we traveled through the city to the airways' office at the
Raffies hotel. The trip was very interesting. First we passed
the rows of Chinese shops. Every opening in the wall was
used, by either a blacksmith, a cobbler, a merchant, or a
jeVeler. There were many eating places, too, but it seemed
that many vendors of food had set up their restaurants
along the curbs and were preparing their meals on the
streets, where squatting persons were eating. It was very
plain to see that the Chinese had retained their customary
dress and habits of old China. This set them in contrast
with the various Indian peoples who identified themselves
by their turbans or a colored fez. Europeans, civilian and
military, were also about in smaller numbers, some with
sun helmets and shorts on, and others in conventional
European attire. Occasionally we saw a Chinese or Indian
who had gone over to the use of white man's clothing; but
for the most part they appeared to be proud of their
nationality and glad to identify themselves by their dress.
Signs were posted all over the business districts on posts
and walls, but we were unable to understand the majority
of them because we were not students of Eastern languages.
Trucks whizzed by that had all sorts of Chinese writing on
the sides. Taxis of every description were plentiful, and
there were thousands of bicycles on the streets. We had

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