HUXLEY 35 



out visible arms. This was, I think, in the winter of 1870-71. 

 Both Huxley and myself thought this plan exceedingly risky, 

 but he determined to try it; and he succeeded, but through 

 the exercise of an amount of coolness and courage which very 

 few men indeed possess. He returned to Russia to complete 

 his preparations, and in September, 1871, was landed in 

 Astrolabe Bay with two servants, one a Swede and the other 

 a Polynesian. The ship's carpenter built him a small hut, 

 fourteen feet by seven feet, and then the ship sailed away 

 and left him totally unprotected. As soon as it was seen 

 that the ship was completely out of sight, large numbers of 

 natives, armed with knives, bows, and spears, gathered round 

 his hut and soon began to make warlike demonstrations, 

 which went on more or less for some days. They would 

 shoot arrows close to his head or body, or draw their bow 

 to the full with the arrow directed to his chest, and then 

 loose the string with a twang, while holding back the arrow ; 

 but he sat still and smiled, knowing, I suppose, that if they 

 really meant to kill him that was hardly the way they would 

 do it, and that in any case he could not possibly escape them. 

 At other times they would run at him with their spears, or 

 press the spear-point against his teeth till he was forced to 

 open his mouth. But finding that he was brave, that he did 

 not try to escape them, and also finding that he was a " medi- 

 cine" man, could heal their wounds and cure the sick, they 

 gradually came to consider him as a friend and even as a 

 supernatural being. Soon one servant died, and the other was 

 almost constantly ill, so that the doctor had plenty to do; but 

 he lived with these people for fifteen months, learnt their lan- 

 guage, studied them minutely, and explored much of the sur- 

 rounding country. I know of no more daring feat by any 

 traveller. A short account of this exploration is given in 

 Nature, vol. ix., p. 328. 



I used often to call in at Jermyn Street if I had any question 

 to ask Huxley, and he was always ready to give me all the 

 information in his power ; while I am pretty sure I owe partly, 

 if not largely, to his influence the grant of the royal medal 

 of the Royal Society, and perhaps also of the Darwin medal. 



