Dear Mother,
    I am a companion of Fuegia. She is nice. I am not too seasick. It is so weird to be on a ship. I visted Aliaranel. We talked about oue food. No hearty meals have we had since one or two weeks ago. I have been getting more food as a companion of the Captain. The crew seems more worried on keeping the higher classes alive. Naturally, what the menu offers is rats. Bleagh! I'll never complain about vegetables again.
    I witnessed the removing of the dung. Oh, how sick I felt. I was up early this morning drawing a beautiful picture of the sunrise beyond the islands which are becoming clearer. It is so beautiful; my last words were not heard over sombody puking near me.
    I was reading a book on animals of the sea. It described on animal that was only sighted a few times called the giant squid. In the picture that was drawn by sailors who were almost killed when it almost turned their ship over, was the creature that Darwin couldn't say what it was. "A giant squid!" he said, when I showed it to him,"I should have guessed."
   It is fun to be on this ship.

Love,        
Mary