J 6 Concerning South Sea Islands iv 



green water inside the reef ; on the other, up at the 

 mountains, cliff beyond cliff, tier beyond tier, in sun- 

 light and shadow, up to the very clouds. I slept 

 there in a little house built on a rock right out in 

 the sea ; it was approached by a bridge of planks, 

 and the roar of the surf shook its very foundations 

 — a lullaby for a god ! I could look out of my 

 window and see the gleaming fish by thousands 

 swimming past ; and, in the middle of the night, I 

 was awakened by the glare of a native fisherman's 

 torch looking in at me. 



'A short time ago a fellow -medico who was 

 lodged there got up in the morning to find, to his no 

 small consternation, that the bridge had been washed 

 away. It was not the blue ghost-chamber, it was 

 the Robinson Crusoe, the maroon chamber, 



' We have been thinking of going from this place 

 to the Marquesas, but it is a long and difficult way, 

 so we have decided to give the idea up, and to cruise 

 among the islands to the westward instead.' 



'Auckland, ith December 1870. 



' Here we are again, my darling, after one of the 

 most delightful cruises ever made. I wrote to you 

 from Tahiti. I hope that you got the letter ; we have 

 been out of reach of post-offices ever since. After 

 we left Tahiti we dropped down from one lovely 

 island to another, seeing the strangest sights 

 imaginable, and being treated like princes by the 

 natives, who literally loaded us with presents. I had 



