7. This evening before dinner I broke out one of my bottles of whisky and had a couple of drinks with Wilmot, an Englishman who is doing some form of edu- cational work and is concerned with the establishment in the Dominions of bureaus such as the British Library of Information in New York. It is odd that while there are such places in most of the Foreign countries as well as the U.S., nothing of the sort has been set up in any of the Dominions. It Wilmot's job to look after their establishment in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. Another couple with whom we fraternize are Mr. and Mrs. Speight; they have just completed a world-wide trip promoting Australian goods and Speight has some very good stories to tell. One of them is connected with the sale of gall stones from cattle to Chinese firms, who make sundry mysterious drugs of them. Van found a Chinese place in San Francisco which sold dried lizards, also for medicinal purposes; he tried to buy one but was refused because they were a wholesale house. A remark of Speight's concerning the willingness of English lads, who travelled all over the world during the war, to settle down in Bradford as weaver's assistants or color boys in a dye works has given me an idea for another opening for the article I slanted toward the National Geographic. Since the N.G. doesn't like the idea, I have to get it in shape to offer to somebody else. Friday, 6 February 1948. Tonight about 1 AM we shall pass within about ten miles of Christmas Island, an uninhabited bit of landapproximately one thousand miles south of Honolulu. While not particularly a bird sanctuary, it shelters many thousands of sea birds of various sorts, some of which are now flying around the ship making rasping noises at us. About the only other activity worthy of note for the day is a fire and life- boat drill this afternoon. The fire drill of course was for crew only and a thin trickle of water was produced from the fire hoses. For the boat drill passengers had to assemble at boat stations, complete with life belts but there was no effort made to examine the fastenings of the belts or to explain how they should be worn. I think this is the only passenger ship I have ever been on where there was no 11 AM inspection by the Captain; somehow, however, one does not expect it here. Wilmot and I finished off my first pint of whisky before dinner tonight and I think I shall use the remainder for one party to which I shall invite Mr. and Mrs. Speight and Dr. Lilley, an Australian Govt. doctor who has just concluded a round of hospital inspections in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Saturday, 7 February 1948. Just after I had finished last night's entry Van came into the writing room with a tern which he had caught while it rested on the ship., Later he got a red-footed booby; he made various measurements and then let both birds go. No doubt they were from Christmas Island. At 11.15 AM this morning we crossed the line. There was no particular cele- bration other than a toot on the ship's whistle but several people got up to look out through the portholes and there was the usual discussion about the bump. One woman insisted that the water was much higher, whatever that meant, and a great many people detected a drop in temperature immediately.. This afternoon, having nothing better to do and hoping that it would help to pass the time, I entered the contract bridge tournament. Got into the round of eight without any great difficulty and feel that I am not a bit out of my class. At the moment Van is writing voluminous notes about his birds of last night, sitting across the table from me. There must be at least 150 children on the ship and all of them between one and five years old. That is, none are more than five though there are several of