The Cruise of the Calgaric | 11 SECOND INTERLUDE

11 SECOND INTERLUDE

XI
SECOND INTERLUDE
AFTER LEAVING Stockholm we had three days at sea before reaching Oslo, and it came almost as a welcome relief to have time to think over all that we had seen and learnt, and to put some sort of order into our minds.
The life on board ship resumed its full swing—games, swimming, dancing, lectures.
Sir Percy Everett gave a delightful talk, illustrated with lantern slides, on "Scouting and Guiding in the Early Days." As not everybody who wanted to hear him could be accommodated at one time in the lounge he had to give the lecture twice, with only a few minutes' interval, which was rather to the detriment of his voice.
Mr. Robbins also gave a most interesting and enlightening lecture on "Russia." There can be very few people with as intimate a knowledge as he has of that "most distressful country."
A new form of entertainment became the rage during those few days—the "County Tea-party." It became so prevalent that inoffensive people who hailed from one of the obscurer parts of the British Isles found great difficulty in getting tea at all. Wherever they sat down they were greeted with hoarse whispers: "I say, this is Surrey!" or polite murmurings: "Would you mind—this is Cheshire—thank you so much!" Other groups, such as Extension Guiders and Sea Rangers, also burst out into tea-parties, and as the Chief Guide was invited to all of them and conscientiously tried to go, she must have eaten at least half-a-dozen teas every day. When she did refuse for once, the refusal was couched in the following verses by the Chief Scout:

Accept our thanks. Your poem ranks
High in our estimation.
We'd love to be with the West Countree
In their joyful jollification,
But, sad to say, we're booked to-day
For another invitation.

(I am no poet—don't I know it!
So forgive my limitation.)
But you may bet we shan't forget
Your kindly invitation.
So "May the Sun in his daily run
Shine bright on your Teepees,"
We send you this, the Indian wish,
And thank you,
The B.-P.'s.

Lady Baden-Powell gave yet one more proof of her kindness and thoughtfulness for others. Although she had lost no opportunity of making friends with everyone she came across, she thought there might still be a few among the passengers to whom she had not yet spoken, so in a rash moment she gave out that she would be at home on two successive afternoons, "under the buffalo," to anybody who would like to have a word with her. She thought that perhaps a dozen or so would turn up, but there must have been nearly a hundred on each of the two afternoons. Some people might have been rather nonplussed by this number, but Lady Baden-Powell succeeded in having a real talk with each of them. A good hostess is said to be one who appears to be really interested in each one of her guests, but this definition does not fit the Chief Guide, who not only appears to be, but literally is, interested in each Guide or Guider in the world. She is really thrilled with each new acquaintance that she makes, and is still more thrilled when she unerringly picks out from among a crowd the face of someone she has met once before.
Among our excitements was the Treasure Hunt. The trail was laid very subtly by Mrs. Janson Potts and Mr. Robbins—at one point it led to the bottom of the swimming bath.
Another sporting event was a contest in aquatic spar fighting, which was watched with much excitement and amusement; and we also had a splendid gymkhana, organized by a special committee under the auspices of Mrs. Janson Potts. The events were very well chosen, being original and exciting. The following were the individual events:
1. A gentle obstacle race.
2. Optical line-walking.
3. Potato race.
4. Egg and spoon race.

Photo] [Walshams, Ltd.
A QUIET MOMENT

Photo] [M. Crowdy
A LAST LOOK

Photo] [M. Crowdy
THE CHIEF SCOUT AND CAPTAIN BURD

Photo] [M. Crowdy
AQUATIC SPAR FIGHTING

These events were hotly contested, but the excitement created by them was as nothing to the fever which reigned where the county events were concerned. These events were:
1. Tug-of-War (teams of eight, including not more than two men).
2. Human potato race (teams of six).
3. Steering the ship (teams of two).
4. Clear the table (teams of four).
The tug-of-war aroused the most intense partisanship, and was carried out under the strictest rules, the only difficulty being that as all events had to be run off simultaneously, and as there was very little room on the boat deck, the tug-of-war team, straining at the rope, was very apt to fall over the human potatoes in the rear. However, when these were temporarily cleared away, the struggle resumed unimpeded. In the end, Surrey remained the victor, thanks to superior science, thy said, but the semi-finalists claimed that it was merely owing to the superior avoirdu-poids of some of their senior Commissioners.
But the main event of these few days was the concert, which was arranged by Miss M. Dunell and Mr. Geoffrey Chilton.
This was given for the passengers on the evening of Tuesday, August 22nd, and was so successful that it was repeated the following afternoon for the benefit of the crew.
Where all were so good, it is impossible to single out any for special mention, but the best dancing was certainly the Foursome Reel danced by the Scottish Guiders, and the most amusing item was the charade, which brought in each letter of the word "Calgaric," especially the scene in which Miss Acland, arrayed for cliff-climbing and bird photography, pursued a rare bird, Badenius Powelliensis Gillwellii, the only living pair of which were to be found on board, with their three young.
A surprise item was announced half-way through the concert, and turned out to be a "most lamentable comedy" by the Chief Scout, who recited "Excelsior," with crocodile tears. This was the only item in which every word penetrated to the people sitting in remote corners. The Chief Scout has the great gift of a voice which carries in the most extraordinary way, without his shouting or appearing to force it.
Altogether we had a very happy, and perhaps we might say riotous, few days before arriving at our last port of call, Oslo.
This interlude is perhaps the best place to insert Miss Acland's notes on the birds seen during our cruise:
"From the moment of leaving Southampton Dock the bird-lovers had, with but few vacant minutes, something to see and observe. Black-headed and Herring Gulls

accompanied us down Channel with a large percentage of immature birds, distinguished by their mottled brown plumage, and in the case of the former by the absence of the characteristic black head, and by the broad brown bar on the tip of the tail. Only one or two Lesser Black-backed Gulls were seen in the Channel or the North Sea, but when we had entered the Baltic the type of gull changed entirely, and the ship was followed almost exclusively by the Common Gull and the Scandinavian Lesser Black-backed Gull, the northern representative of our species, easily recognised by the uniformly slateblack back.
"At the entrance to the Kiel Canal small parties of Terns, or as they are sometimes called 'Sea Swallows,' owing to their long, slim wings and forked tails, could be seen fishing, diving beneath the surface of the water to emerge with a small silvery fish in their beaks; a few flying away to land carrying their prey, a sure indication that they still had young to be fed.
"It was during our passage through the Canal that the greatest bird thrill occurred when Storks were seen standing motionless in the fields, or marching with slow and stately steps amongst the cattle. One or two huge empty nests were observed on the tops of barns or houses, where they are encouraged to nest by the people, who erect suitable platforms of wood, or even an old cart-wheel, on which they can build. One pair were seen standing on their old nest, but in Lithuania we were lucky enough to see a nest still containing three young ones with both parents standing on guard on the edge of the nest like statues.
"Interesting birds were seen from the deck of the Calgaric as we cruised slowly along the Canal, such as Marsh Harriers; and a battle between a Short-eared Owl and a pair of Hooded Crows was watched until the combatants were but specks in the distance.
"In all the Baltic countries the Hooded Crow entirely replaced our more familiar black members of the Crow family.
"A few Eider Ducks and Velvet Scoters with nearly full-grown young were noticed as we entered the many islands off Stockholm, and some of us were privileged to catch sight of a White-tailed Sea Eagle circling high up in the sky, mobbed by Gulls, not far from the island where it was known to have nested in 1929.
"A few small birds visited the ship as we entered Oslo Fjord, but most of them remained on board for such a short time that no one was able to make sure what they were. A small party of Yellow Wagtails flew alongside the ship for some distance, uttering their high-pitched call-notes, but did not alight on board.
"One or two Wheatears were seen on different dates, and between the coasts of Ireland and Scotland a Greenland Wheatear made the Calgaric its resting place for at least an hour. It was so tame that it allowed a near approach so that the brighter colouring and larger size which differentiate it from the Common Wheatear were easily noted.

Photo] [C. M. Acland
WHITE STORK AND YOUNG

Photo] [C. M. Acland
BLACK-HEADED AND HERRING GULLS FOLLOWING THE SHIP

Photo] [M. Crowdy
A CONSULTATION ABOUT CAMERAS

Photo] [M. Crowdy
SCOTTISH REELS

Photo] [Walshams, Ltd.
READY TO GO ASHORE

Photo] [M. Crowdy
DISEMBARKING IN THE SHIP'S LAUNCHES

Photo] [E. Stone
GOING ASHORE

Photo] [E. Stone

MRS. KERR LEARNING LESSONS FROM "THE VARSITY OF LIFE"

Photo] [F. M. Holbard
DISCUSSING A WEIGHTY PROBLEM

"Before we reached the Pentland Firth we noticed slim, grey forms skimming over the tops of the waves, with straight wings and seemingly effortless flight; so another bird, the Fulmar Petrel, was added to the list of species new to many of the 'Cruisers.'
"Large parties of Gannets, pure white with black tips to the wings, were all round the ship when we reached the coasts of Scotland. Owing to a roughish sea they were not diving, but we had an opportunity of seeing a few immature birds variously marked with black markings on the back and neck according to their age.
"Very few Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills, mostly young birds, were seen of the coasts of Ireland, where the 'white-washed cliffs indicated the ledges where the sea birds had bred.'"
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