46 In the South Seas 



III 



enough, and seemed quite as ready to fight with 

 each other as with us. Very beautiful to see the 

 yacht towed in through the narrow passage about a 

 cable's length across. As soon as she anchored, came 

 a deluge of rain. 



Read my Darwin. We may be heirs of all the 

 ages, but our ancestors must have squandered a deuce 

 of a lot of the property. Where did it go to ? ^ 



'We lead a real, knock -about, sea-faring life,' 

 the Doctor wrote to his wife from the Island of 

 Rawau. ' We live entirely on the yacht, and some- 

 times do not land for a week at a time ; going out 

 fishing in the boats, and back again, for days 

 together. In fact, the forest in many places is so 

 hopelessly impenetrable that if we do land, we are 

 obliged to content ourselves with a stroll along the 

 bright shelly beach. I never saw anything so impene- 

 trable as these woods are ; you have positively to 

 force your way through them, the trees and bushes 

 grow so thickly together. We have left the danger- 

 ous parts of the island, and up in Mongonui the 

 natives were very friendly and civil. The other day, 

 the good, converted Maoris roasted a prisoner, and 

 were going to eat him ; but, suddenly remembering 

 that they had been told that such a proceeding 

 would be extremely sinful, they contented themselves 

 with sitting round him, nibbling biscuits, and enjoy- 

 ing the smell.' 



1 WTierever the Doctor went he took with him his two favourite 

 books : Shakespeare (Globe Edition) and Darwin's Origin of Species. 



