314 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



were no better off, heavy sea running and no chance to 

 see the reef, so we kept on to Whit-Sunday Passage, 

 where we got yesterday a.m. 



I fear I have brought a great deal too much ma- 

 terial and supplies of all kinds, for unless the weather 

 is very different from what it has been, and all say it will 

 be, I cannot hope to do anything outside, and my reel- 

 ing engine and sounding machine will be very little 

 used. For such a long trip and so many men a larger 

 vessel is wanted ; there is no storage for one's clothes in 

 the cabin — all has to be kept in valises and trunks and 

 we have each one shelf to place the most urgent material. 

 The food is very fair and the vessel an excellent sea boat. 

 We are now in latitude 20 and it 's getting warm, and 

 pretty warm in the cabin at night." 



TO MISS E. H. CLAEK 



On Board the Croyden, 



Cairns, April 26, 1896. 



Bad weather seems to pursue us since leaving Towns- 

 ville. We have only had one really good day for work, 

 and of course the day we spent coaling was perfect. 

 Still the time is not all wasted, and I am learning a 

 little something nearly every day. We manage to get a 

 few things to look at from the beaches at low tide, if 

 they are accessible, and land on the Islands when we 

 anchor, where I devote myself to the rocks, Woodworth 

 to collecting on the beaches, and Mayer to insects, and 

 both Max and Woodworth bring their cameras in case 

 there is anything of interest to photograph. Still I am 

 getting frightened at the little work that has been ac- 

 complished thus far, and unless in the next month there 

 is a radical change for the better, the expedition will be 



