A little before noon Cape Race is on our larboard quarter, and in an
hour or two more we catch our last glimpse of Terra Nova. The
weather is still fine, and the sea comparatively smooth. At 9 p.m. a
large number of the passengers gather in the saloon to hear a lecture
on the causes that led to the war in South Africa. The lecture is by
the Rev. Mr. Philips, an Anglican minister, who has spent seven years
as missionary among the blacks and half-breeds of the Transvaal. He
arraigns the Boer Government severely for its treatment of the
natives. The truth of what he says is confirmed by Father Kavanagh,
in seconding the motion for a vote of thanks at the close of the
lecture. He remembers quite well when a boy at Stonyhurst hearing
the Jesuit Fathers, returned from South Africa, recount what they saw
and heard of the oppression of subject races by the Boers. "The tale
they then told," he says, "has been retold here to-night." Precisely
at 11 o'clock the sound of the whistle warns us that we have at last
run into the inevitable fog. The dismal tooting is kept up at
intervals of one or two minutes during the rest of the night.
* * *