Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
11 Mar 1901
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Object Detail
Date
11 Mar 1901
Transcript
R.M.S. Arcadia The Equator 11.3.1901
My darling Mother
We are now two days sail from Colombo and today are crossing the line so you can imagine the temperature. We have been sailing for days under scorching blue skys, fortunately tempered with cool breezes otherwise the heat would have been scarcely bearable. Heavy tropical showers come up at night without warning and in a minute the deck is deluged and everything wet through in spite of double awnings. Everything is an effort in this heat and getting up and going to bed require almost super human strength. I shall be glad when we reach Colombo, more glad when we reach Marseilles and most glad when we reach London. I find shipboard life most irksome and am wearying to get to work. There is a rumor abroad that we may be quarantined in Port Said, plague is raging in Bombay and as we are shipping a number of passengers from that port there is every chance of our not being able to land either at Pt. Said or at Gibraltar. We hope to reach Colombo at midday on Wed. and we intend (Mrs T. Miss Marchant & self) going up to Kandy and spending the night there coming back early in the morning and devoting the rest of the day to sightseeing in Colombo, and if possible go out to Mt Lavinia.
At this point the Sec. of the Sports Committee pounced on me armed with a pencil & a persuasive smile and carried me off to play one of the finals in bucket quoits which I lost ignominiously as I have lost all other games. The days slip by somehow, you start with the prospect of a long day and of infinite leisure but if you do your duty and write up your diary and play off the various fixtures arranged for you and go for a walk you find the day is gone before you realise it. This weather is really too good to last, we shall certainly have to pay for it somewhere, we had a slight excitement last night which however ended tamely, a sudden squall got up and we were told we were on the outer circle of a cyclone, however , it subsided as quickly as it rose and we settled down to a steady roll for the rest of the night. Our Equatorial menu today is worth recording, pea soup, boiled mutton and plum pudding, with ices in semi liquified form. Butter is a fluid in these parts and water a thing to be avoided. We laid a stock of lemons at Perth and have found them invaluable.
We spent a long and a very hot day in Perth, a [n] old friend of Mrs Turton’s came down to meet her and asked me to join the party, so the Pyms, Mrs T. & self journeyed up to town thro’ a tract of the most barren dusty unfertile looking country that it has ever been my ill luck to traverse. I was hot & thirsty and could see no beauty in anything and the Swan river they are so proud of I thought a wretched little dried up ditch – the want of vegetation is almost painful to N.Z. eyes. When we reached Perth we were astonished to find such a pretty well laid out town, with fine buildings and a most up to date electric tram service. We had a sumptuous repast on cold victuals and lemon squashes, and then started to “do” Perth. There is no doubt about its prosperity and now that Freemantle harbour is finished and the big boats call there they prophecy a big future for it.
I have now reached the stage when I am holding blotting paper under my chin. Oh the heat! I have quite changed my mind about living in a hot climate and would give worlds for a cool southerly wind from Dunedin.
Our friend Miss Dixon is just as irritating and stupid as I thought she would be and is cordially disliked by all our party. She is so ill bred and one never knows what she is going to do or say next. She has an overflowing friendliness for everyone on board fortunately for us and does not bother us much except at meals.
14.3.1901 I am finishing this in the train returning from Kandy. The last two days I have been suffering from an attack of cholera brought on by the heat and the ship’s water. I am better now but very weak and in future will be more careful what I drink. We reached Colombo at midday yesterday and we caught a train up to Kandy at 2 o’clock. It was one long panorama of beauty, you have no conception of its picturesqueness I have quite made up my mind to stay here for a few weeks on my way out. We reached K. at 6 o’clock and I had to retire to bed much to my disgust. The others hired rickshaws & drove round the town – saw Buddha’s Temple and bought extensively and cheated accordingly in the bazaars. We were up at 4 o’clock, into rickshaws and drove to some famous gardens and we are now returning a very tired sleepy but thoroughly happy party. This is a wild epistle, hope you can decipher it. Goodbye darling love to Willie. Your loving Fanny. I do hope you are keeping well.
My darling Mother
We are now two days sail from Colombo and today are crossing the line so you can imagine the temperature. We have been sailing for days under scorching blue skys, fortunately tempered with cool breezes otherwise the heat would have been scarcely bearable. Heavy tropical showers come up at night without warning and in a minute the deck is deluged and everything wet through in spite of double awnings. Everything is an effort in this heat and getting up and going to bed require almost super human strength. I shall be glad when we reach Colombo, more glad when we reach Marseilles and most glad when we reach London. I find shipboard life most irksome and am wearying to get to work. There is a rumor abroad that we may be quarantined in Port Said, plague is raging in Bombay and as we are shipping a number of passengers from that port there is every chance of our not being able to land either at Pt. Said or at Gibraltar. We hope to reach Colombo at midday on Wed. and we intend (Mrs T. Miss Marchant & self) going up to Kandy and spending the night there coming back early in the morning and devoting the rest of the day to sightseeing in Colombo, and if possible go out to Mt Lavinia.
At this point the Sec. of the Sports Committee pounced on me armed with a pencil & a persuasive smile and carried me off to play one of the finals in bucket quoits which I lost ignominiously as I have lost all other games. The days slip by somehow, you start with the prospect of a long day and of infinite leisure but if you do your duty and write up your diary and play off the various fixtures arranged for you and go for a walk you find the day is gone before you realise it. This weather is really too good to last, we shall certainly have to pay for it somewhere, we had a slight excitement last night which however ended tamely, a sudden squall got up and we were told we were on the outer circle of a cyclone, however , it subsided as quickly as it rose and we settled down to a steady roll for the rest of the night. Our Equatorial menu today is worth recording, pea soup, boiled mutton and plum pudding, with ices in semi liquified form. Butter is a fluid in these parts and water a thing to be avoided. We laid a stock of lemons at Perth and have found them invaluable.
We spent a long and a very hot day in Perth, a [n] old friend of Mrs Turton’s came down to meet her and asked me to join the party, so the Pyms, Mrs T. & self journeyed up to town thro’ a tract of the most barren dusty unfertile looking country that it has ever been my ill luck to traverse. I was hot & thirsty and could see no beauty in anything and the Swan river they are so proud of I thought a wretched little dried up ditch – the want of vegetation is almost painful to N.Z. eyes. When we reached Perth we were astonished to find such a pretty well laid out town, with fine buildings and a most up to date electric tram service. We had a sumptuous repast on cold victuals and lemon squashes, and then started to “do” Perth. There is no doubt about its prosperity and now that Freemantle harbour is finished and the big boats call there they prophecy a big future for it.
I have now reached the stage when I am holding blotting paper under my chin. Oh the heat! I have quite changed my mind about living in a hot climate and would give worlds for a cool southerly wind from Dunedin.
Our friend Miss Dixon is just as irritating and stupid as I thought she would be and is cordially disliked by all our party. She is so ill bred and one never knows what she is going to do or say next. She has an overflowing friendliness for everyone on board fortunately for us and does not bother us much except at meals.
14.3.1901 I am finishing this in the train returning from Kandy. The last two days I have been suffering from an attack of cholera brought on by the heat and the ship’s water. I am better now but very weak and in future will be more careful what I drink. We reached Colombo at midday yesterday and we caught a train up to Kandy at 2 o’clock. It was one long panorama of beauty, you have no conception of its picturesqueness I have quite made up my mind to stay here for a few weeks on my way out. We reached K. at 6 o’clock and I had to retire to bed much to my disgust. The others hired rickshaws & drove round the town – saw Buddha’s Temple and bought extensively and cheated accordingly in the bazaars. We were up at 4 o’clock, into rickshaws and drove to some famous gardens and we are now returning a very tired sleepy but thoroughly happy party. This is a wild epistle, hope you can decipher it. Goodbye darling love to Willie. Your loving Fanny. I do hope you are keeping well.
Pages
8 pages
Sender's address
R.M.S Arcadia, The Equator
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-09
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins
to
Rachel
Hodgkins,
Gilbert
Hodgkins
and
Isabel
Field.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-09.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22903730
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22903730