of an Orchid Hunter. g 



above the other; the lower one about two feet from 

 the floor and the other about four feet, very much re- 

 minding one of the shelves used in larders for jam, 

 &c, except that each shelf is provided with a high 

 edge, being a board about a foot and a half wide ; 

 this, with the four-feet distance from the floor, renders 

 it absolutely indispensable for the occupant of the top 

 shelf to perform night and morning, or as often as 

 required, a no very desirable feat of gymnastics in 

 order to place himself behind the side of the shelf. 

 Apart from this stiffness in the bedsteads, everything 

 seemed to be made on an opposite principle, water- 

 bottles, candlesticks, towel-rails, etc., being suspended 

 with as many joints as would lead one to imagine that 

 each had emanated from a school of en^ineerine where 

 the application of the ball-and-socket was a speciality. 

 However, after the foregoing inventory of my bedroom 

 furniture and a marvellous triumph of agility that I 

 really never gave myself credit for, I managed to 

 scramble safely on to one of the shelves, the lower one, 

 as may be supposed, where, after some dim visions of 

 shipwreck, pirates, and cannibal islands, I slept soundly 

 until six o'clock next morning, and I was only awakened 

 by an extraordinary motion alternately elevating my 

 head and heels above the level of my body. Hastily 

 dressing and going on deck, I found that through the 

 night a strong head-wind had arisen, whipping the sea 



