THE FIRST FLOOD 173 



beginning of March, that by the end of May he had 

 to be sent away for three months' change of air to 

 AustraHa. Soon after his return in August he suc- 

 cumbed again to the evil cHmate, and though he pluckily 

 pretended that there was nothing the matter with him, 

 he went from bad to worse, and I am fully persuaded 

 that his almost forcible deportation at the end of 

 November saved his life. 



At the end of May, Goodfellow and RawUng went 

 over to Dobo, and after about eight days returned with 

 the motor boat, which had been bought from the pearl- 

 fishers. Like most things of which a great deal is expected 

 the motor boat turned out to be a disappointment, and it 

 eventually led us into serious difficulty, but for a short 

 time it did good service in towing boats up the river, and 

 it considerably shortened the voyage from Wakatimi to 

 Parimau. 



The day of the arrival of the motor boat was 

 memorable for being the occasion of the first of the 

 really serious floods that beset us. Late in the evening 

 a party of our coolies on their way back from Parimau, 

 who were not due to arrive until the following day, 

 reached the camp at Wakatimi, most of which was by 

 that time under water. The journey down the river 

 usually occupied two days, but they had found all the 

 usual camping places, some of which were high above 

 the ordinary river bed, under water, and they had been 

 unable to find any safe resting-place. 



The three following days were among the most 

 unpleasant that I had ever spent, though worse were to 

 follow later. On the morning of the first day the water 



