March 10th
Today Lecoq and Desmarie submitted their resignations and declared that for the time being public assemblies were cancelled. They proposed the election of a five-member presidium that would work out the rules by which the assembly and the voting would be governed next time. Sébastien Durrieu would accept candidacies for membership of the presidium for a period of three days. Elections would be held March 17th and 18th.
One of the Frenchmen came to ask if I could translate a letter into Italian, which he wanted to give to Adelina, and if I could teach him a few sentences. His name is Jean-Loup. He wanted to know how to say: Where are you from? I’m from Annecy, which is near Italy. Do you have a boyfriend? And: Now we are all, so to speak, in the same boat. He asked if that also had a figurative meaning in Italian.
We are nearing the equator! The thermometer reads 40°. Flying fish leap from the waves. They fly about 50 meters and then drop back into the water. There are fish three or four meters long swimming behind the ship. Some say they’re sharks, but other people disagree and say that they are dolphins.
March 11th
Mrs. Crisson passed away. Mr. Crisson wept and was inconsolable.
It’s strange how people’s fates collide. Before we left, the only person I really knew was Amilcare, and Cursio and Egizio remotely. And Zeffirino, who published French for Everyone in serial form and wrote articles for Friend of Humanity. I used to copy them and give them to Amilcare to read. Where did all these people come from? How could people in Germany have found out about the Older Brother project? I asked Agottani about it, he said he hadn’t a clue.
Most of the Italians are from Milan and the vicinity, but not all. Agottani is from Naples, but then lived in the north. Apart from a few exceptions, none of them knew each other.
The most organized are the French. A good half of them hail from Savoy and have known each other for some time. The others are from Paris. They used to organize strikes and marches. Some of them have been in prison.
The French who call themselves Egalitarians use a different calendar. Jean-Loup explained to me that according to this calendar, the new year begins in September and the months have different names: Wine-maker, Fog-maker, Frost-maker, Snow-maker, Rain-maker, Wind-maker, Sprout-maker, Blossom-maker, Meadow-maker, Crop-maker, Heat-maker, and Fruit-maker. Today is the 20th of Wind-maker.
Some of us tried to talk Decio into running for the presidium, but Decio said that he wants nothing to do with communists like Zeffirino and Gorand, that communism yokes man with the burden of all that isn’t allowed. He said he had nothing against discipline, but discipline has to be the fruit of freedom. He said he was for anarchy and socialism, because anarchy guarantees freedom and socialism a dignified life, and you can’t separate the two. Giacomo said that communism and anarchy aren’t always completely at odds, it depends on what you can adapt from communism and what you can’t, and that he shouldn’t be so strict. And that the most important thing is unity, without that we can achieve nothing.
We sailed across the equator and entered the South Seas. The captain had a pig slaughtered, and anyone who has money can buy a piece. The Germans sent a delegation to the Italians and the French, because some of them are completely out of supplies. They’re asking us to show solidarity and give them some of our food. The voyage should last another two or three weeks.
March 12th
I wrote a letter to my mother, actually to Padre Francisco in Brescia, who will deliver it and read it to her. In it I wrote about Decio, Elisabetta, the nations of Europe, human races, and flying fish. It’s my third letter since the day I left Brescia. I’ll send it as soon as we land in Rio de Janeiro.
In the end, Zeffirino was the only one to submit his name for the presidium. He tried to persuade Gorand to do it, but Gorand refused.
March 13th
Lecoq, Desmarie, and Durrieu issued a joint proclamation saying that due to a lack of candidates, elections to the presidium would be postponed and anyone interested could still sign up today or tomorrow. If no one signs up, the five oldest settlers will be appointed to the presidium.
This afternoon we spotted a raft in the waves. It was built out of two ten-or twelve-meter-long beams and some transom beams. The captain thinks the raft came from a ship that caught fire. The castaways were probably washed away by the waves. This evening the captain called the crew and passengers together to read us the list of anti-fire measures and warned us to pay more attention to them. He also asked the passengers to fill the empty casks of drinking water with seawater. The crew isn’t large enough to be able to do the job, two more sailors are sick.
The Germans had a child, a baby girl. Her name is Hoffnung.
March 14th
This morning we filled the casks, Italians, French, Germans, both Americans, and the five Slavs, who aren’t Serbs, as Decio thought, but Hungarians. We made a chain and handed pails down the line. Some of the Germans are so lazy that after a few pails they walk away to rest and smoke a pipe and send their wives and daughters to take their place.