DAVID DOUGLAS, BOTANIST, AT HAWAII. I 73 



they seemed to have been satisfied with Ned's description of what 

 happened. This story is well known, and need not be repeated 

 here; it is now generally accepted as in the main true. At the 

 same time it must be remembered that they derived their 

 information from Ned, and there will always be some doubt as 

 to what actually happened, first, because Douglas had safely 

 passed the pits in the path, of which Ned alleges he had warned 

 him, and left his dog and bundle a short distance beyond them, 

 and secondly, because it is hard to believe that he deliberately 

 retraced his steps and fell into a pit, the covering of which must 

 have been removed, if a bull had already fallen in. One 

 possible explanation is that while two of the pits were in the 

 path, a third (in which the bull had presumably fallen) was a 

 short distance off the path, and that after he had passed he 

 heard something in this pit and returned to ascertain the cause, 

 and approaching too close accidentally fell in himself. 



Another possible theory is that he returned in order to get 

 water from a small pond near the third pit, and fell into the 

 pit, still covered over, and that subsequently a bull also fell 

 in, the concealment not having been completely removed by 

 Douglas's fall. We should add that these speculations are 

 not Mr Wilson's but our own. 



No motive has been suggested for Ned desiring to kill 

 Douglas, but in such a remote spot an unscrupulous scoundrel 

 would require very little temptation, and it would not have been 

 easy to distinguish between a wound inflicted before or after the 

 body was thrown into the pit tenanted by an entrapped bull. 



On the whole, however, the probability seems to be that 

 Douglas did in some unfortunate manner fall into the pit 

 already or subsequently occupied by a bull. 



It is curious that although Douglas was buried in a grave in 

 the churchyard of Kawaiahao at Honolulu, bricked over by 

 order of the British Consul, its site could not be located some 

 years after when a headstone was sent out. This was therefore 

 fixed to the front wall of the church. 



A pathetic interest attaches to the fact that the faithful Scotch 

 terrier that watched Douglas's bundle while the fatal scene was 

 being enacted, was sent home to Mr Bandinel, a clerk in the 

 Foreign Office, and, we believe, eventually reached Douglas's 

 family. 



