"Escaut" where we had to wait for several hours until

the tide comes in and now Mr. Morrison, Armstrong, Wescot
& myself have just had prayers in our stateroom no. 6,
and I came out & had some tea and it is now 10 o'clock
pem. and we are still waiting for the tide to come in so
that we can start. The passengers are all French &
German and the majority are French. They all drink wine
or Beer at meals and they have no regard for Sunday for
they play cards & drink etc. Now I am going to retire
and hope I'll have a good nights rest.

Dec. 7 = Monday

2nd day on Board. About midnight last night the tide
came in and we started out on our long journey. We had
a pleasant & quiet sail until after lunch when the big
waves began to come in and toss our ship to & fro. In
the afternoon many of us began to feel very ill, and it
was with difficulty that we kept our dinner on our
stomach. At dinner (our supper) there were very few
present many in their staterooms and others in the
smik-room drinking wine, beer, etc. I retired early
and had a fairly good night's rest.

Dec. 8 ~ Tuesday

Awoke early this a.m. and felt very badly in the abdomen.
I went to breakfast but nothing I saw that I cared to
eat. Even the sight of anything made me vomit. However
it is better to eat & vomit than vomit & not eat, for
then there is not such a strain so during the whole day
I kept this up first vomit & then eat or vice versa.

I went to meals but couldn't eat. I would eat an apple
or an orange but would throw it up immediately after.

At night I retired and rested fairly well, but Morrison
poor fellow--didn't undress.

Dec. 9 = Wednesday

Nothing much to tell but got up feeling miserably bad--
and thought how happy I would be to be in Gongo--or if
I were on American soil again, I would stay there-~but
then when I thought of the immence suffering of our
Saviour and compared that with my weakness, how frail
a human I am & what cause have I to complain? But oh
my! unless you have been seasick for four or five days
on a stretch you cannot know how miserable a fellow
gets. I am looking forward though, patiently until
the thing shall come to an end, but it still hangs on.
