Ixxxviii MEMOIR 



and what is this with large pink flowers in such abundance ? 

 the oleander in full flower. At first I fear to pluck them, 

 thinking they must be cultivated and valuable ; but soon the 

 banks show a long line of thick tall shrubs, one mass of glorious 

 pink and green. Set these in a little valley, framed by 

 mountains whose rocks gleam out blue and purple colours such 

 as prae-Raphaelites only dare attempt, shining out hard and 

 weirdlike amongst the clumps of castor-oil plants, cistus, arbor 

 vitae and many other evergreens, whose names, alas ! I know 

 not ; the cistus is brown now, the rest all deep or brilliant 

 green. Large herds of cattle browse on the baked deposit at 

 the foot of these large crags. One or two half-savage herdsmen 

 in sheepskin kilts &c. ask for cigars ; partridges whirr up on 

 either side of us ; pigeons coo and nightingales sing amongst 

 the blooming oleander. We get six sheep and many fowls, too, 

 from the priest of the small village ; and then run back to 

 Spartivento and make preparations for the morning. 



< June 18. 



f The big cable is stubborn and will not behave like his 

 smaller brother. The gear employed to take him off the drum is 

 not strong enough ; he gets slack on the drum and plays the 

 mischief. Luckily for my own conscience, the gear I had 

 wanted was negatived by Mr. Newall. Mr. Liddell does not 

 exactly blame me, but he says we might have had a silver 

 pulley cheaper than the cost of this delay. He has telegraphed 

 for more men to Cagliari, to try to pull the cable off the drum 

 into the hold, by hand. I look as comfortable as I can, but 

 feel as if people were blaming me. I am trying my best to get 

 something rigged which may help us ; I wanted a little diffi- 

 culty, and feel much better. The short length we have picked 

 up was covered at places with beautiful sprays of coral, twisted 

 and twined with shells of those small, fairy animals we saw in 

 the aquarium at home ; poor little things, they died at once, 

 with their little bells and delicate bright tints. 



4 12 o Clock. Hurrah, victory! for the present anyhow. 

 Whilst in our first dejection, I thought I saw a place where a 



