Possibly the beer, possibly accustoming oneself to the noise ― I really got a good deal of sleep. Window open, sea very tolerable. Woke at 6 ― & found a dark-blue sea, & clear sky. riz.1 Cafè. Walk on deck. “Mr. & Mrs. Schiller.” Breakfast ― after which I read a good deal of Robinson, & St. Luke ― & some Arabic at intervals all day long more or less ― sleeping or walking about. ― Vessel rolled a good deal at times, but weather always fine. Got my face burned, & did not find it out till I washed, when I came out as a lobster, & had a sore face. Dinner ― wonderfully superexcellent. Cook, Palermitan. ― Champagne ― & all kinds of good things. Sunset, & small new moonrise. Bosnian Turks going to Mecca. Captain Florio, & his languages. Mrs. Schiller & the little stray bird. Flock of geese. ― Walking. Trouser mending ― Giorgio ― & now it is tea time. A most agreeable voyage ― considering what one might have suffered. Beer & Captain Florio, & a long talk of Greco-Slavism ― very interesting.

[Transcribed by Marco Graziosi from Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3.]

  1. Rise, see LEL, 47. [↩]