MY ROB ROY CANOE. 9 



broke the surf unceasingly, sending its whitened spray high into the - 

 air, and joining its hoarse bass with the hum of insect life from the 

 neicjhbourinof wood. 



During the greater portion of our sojourn in the Solomon 

 Islands, I had a small Rob Roy canoe made for me by Mr. Oliver, 

 boat-builder of Auckland, N.Z. It was built of kauri pine, and 

 measured 8h feet in leno-th and 3 feet in beam, beino- intended to 



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combine compactness with stability. This little craft turned out a 

 great success and was extremely handy, as I could haul it up on the 

 beach with ease, and its stowage capability was something surpris- 

 ing. Numerous and varied were my experiences in this small canoe, 

 but the most enjoyable were those when in the loveliest of weather 

 I paddled gently along from one coral islet to another, admiring the 

 variety in form and colour of the groves of coral over which my 

 little craft smoothly glided. At other times in the sleepy hours of 

 the afternoon I would tie up my canoe to the overhanging branch 

 of a tree, and would land to enjoy a cocoa-nut, a pipe, and perhaps 

 a nap. When lazy, I would get a tow from my native companions 

 in their larger canoe ; and in this manner I was towed for more 

 than a mile up one of the large streams that empty into Choiseul 

 Bay. I used to penetrate into all kinds of solitary inlets, now dis- 

 turbing the siesta of some unsuspecting crocodile as I paddled 

 through the dismal tract of the mangrove swamp, or surprising a 

 turtle in the shallow water of the lao^oons inside the coral-reefs. In 

 the deeper water I have passed through a shoal of clums}'- porpoises, 

 some of which I could have touched with my paddle ; whilst occa- 

 sionally some huge shark, twice the length of my canoe, would come 

 almost within reach, and then, after satisfying its curiosity, dive 

 down into the depths again. Now and then my little craft would 

 be borne on the shoulders of natives to some inland lakelet which I 

 was anxious to explore. In its lightness I found this great ad van 

 tage, that I could sometimes considerably shorten my journey by 

 whp-t I may describe as terrestrial naviijation. On more than one 

 occasion I have crossed the weather edgre of a coral-reef, watchinof for 

 my chance between the breakers, and keeping warily clear of the 

 numerous coral nobs, any one of which would have upset the canoe 

 and its contents ; but these are experiments which I should not care 

 to repeat. I was only twice upset, and on both occasions my canoe 

 displayed two other serviceable qualities, shipping but little water 

 and losinor none of its contents although bottom upwards. One of 



