it. He finds that when any body of men engage in a disreputable transaction, several of them are always anxious to turn informers, and secure a reward. An informer nearly always asks a thousand dollars, but he will usually compromise, and take two hundred. If you engage in any kind of dirty work, remember that some one will know about it, and sell you out. . . . The sugar man says that reliable Mexicans tell him that during the thirty-two years Diaz was president of Mexico, he ordered forty thousand men shot, and that he didn't make a mistake in a single case.
The "Sonoma" is a ten-thousand-ton ship, and has
been in the Australian trade only a few months since
it was rebuilt last winter. It ran between San Francisco
and Sydney several years ago, but the owners
claimed the business did not pay, so the three ships
in the line lay in San Francisco bay a long time. Then
the owners decided to try it again, and the ships were
rebuilt, and fitted with oil-burners. This is the fifth
voyage of the "Sonoma" since the owners changed their
minds. A good deal of the trade has been lost, and the
employees are very polite, with a view of recovering
the lost business. We have enough fuel oil on board
to run the ship to Sydney and back to Honolulu. We
all like the ship, except that it is a great roller. The
other night, while the passengers were at dinner, a big
roll sent the dishes and food into heaps on the floor,
and those on deck were shot against the rail with great
force.
Captain Trask is a very pleasant man, and most of
the passengers know him. Some captains, particu-
