[No envelope]
Guayaquil,
Ecuador.
[Thursday,] Oct. 5th 99
Dear Friends:
Since I did not get my long letter off in Panama [I] will tell you how we have been getting along since we left that city.
We came aboard the Columbia [on] Sunday P.M. and did not sail till Monday, Oct. 2nd at about 3 P.M. She was delayed on account of so much freight that had to be loaded.
As I said, we left Panama after a stay of three days and came aboard. We have a very fine boat. She is 360 feet long and an up[-to-date steamer in all her equipment. The staterooms are large and comfortably furnished in every respect. There is a nice parlor with upholstered furniture of the very best; a piano and in fact everything that we might have at home (except a lawn). The food we have tastes more like home grub than anything [sic] we have had since our journey began. The crew consists of ninety men. The officers are nice and accommodating. It is an English steamer, and we sail under that flag. I have not learned the number of passengers on board. They are nearly all Spanish and French, and of course we cannot converse with them very much. A great many of them are Catholic people. Among them are two nuns and a priest.
Last night we crossed the equator and are now on the opposite side of the line from you. The atmosphere is quite cool today. This seems a little peculiar to us since we expected the warmest time at this point. Since this morning we have sighted Ecuador and various small islands but do not expect to park [sic] into port before tomorrow morning. We go quite a distance up the Guayaquil River before we reach the port. They say there is some beautiful scenery on the trip, which I hope we will enjoy after being deprived of natural beauty for so long.
I expect to post this letter at this stop. Now, we can’t write to all the friends individually, and you must manage in some way to circulate our letter from Panama so that all may read it for themselves. If you desire to have it go into print, hand it to the W[est] Salem editor or someone of your county papers, and if they wish it let them print it, then send [a] clipping of same to the friends interested. This is only by way of suggestion; do as you please.
Dillie joins in sending love and best wishes to you all.
Chas.
Transcribed 2015 by SMK
Posted Dec 29, 2018 at 11:23.
Revised Nov 27, 2022 at 19:56. EDT.
Retrieved May 30, 2026 at 06:14.
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