week and we hope to go up with him. There is news that the cruiser 'Sydney', which is due in here tomorrow afternoon, has eight bags of mail on board. Nobody understands where she could have gotten them from as she left Sydney the same day as the 'Mataram', but everyone is hoping that it is especially from their own little place, or from the place where their own little group of friends are situated. Tuesday, September 20. (Tulagi). The well-known H.M.A.S. 'Sydney' entered the harbor in the middle of the afternoon and surprised the community with ten bags of mail. In it were letters for Hannibal and myself. This was a pleasant surprise, as we did not expect the slightest drop of news from home until the 'Mataram' returned a month from today. The evening was the most pleasant that we have spent since we arrived in the Solomons. Mr. Scrivinger of W.R. Carpenter & Co. invited us to Kaikai at his place. It is a beautiful little place situated on the other side of Chinatown on the top of a hill where all the breezes that blow are bound to accumulate. Cocktails were followed by salmon covered with curried chips; meat, peas and potatoes; white wine; fresh pear custard; coffee and creme de cocoa. After- wards we had a game of bridge in which Hannibal and I trimmed Mr. Scrivinger and Mr. Heritage, which was a good deal of a joke. Hannibal did all the playing and showed himself to be quite wonderful, although he hardly has ever played the game before. Mr. Heritage was an undoubted expert, but he did not hold the cards. The 'Biloela' came alongside the 'Sydney' at dusk and the two of them tied together in the harbor, spent the night in a roaring period of transferring coal. It broke the silence of the harbor like a symphony of twelve inch guns.