60 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, iv 



and the adjoining archipelago. The third cruise in 

 1849-50 again lasted nine months, and continued the 

 survey in Torres Straits, the Louisiade archipelago, 

 and the south-eastern part of New Guinea. After 

 this the original plan was to make a fourth cruise, 

 filling up the charts of the Inner Passage on the east 

 coast, and surveying the straits of Alass between 

 Lombok and Sumbawa in the Malay Archipelago; 

 then, instead of returning to Sydney, to proceed to 

 Singapore and so home by the Cape. But these 

 plans were altered by the untimely death of Captain 

 Stanley on March 13, and the Rattlesnake sailed for 

 England direct in May 1850. 



There was a great monotony about these cruises, 

 particularly to those who were not constantly engaged 

 in the active work of surveying. The ship sailed 

 slowly from place to place, hunting out reefs and 

 islets ; a stay of a few days would be made at some 

 lonely island, while charting expeditions went out in 

 the boats or supplies of water and fresh fruits were 

 laid in. On the second expedition there were two 

 cases of scurvy on board by the time the mail from 

 Sydney reached the ship at Cape York with letters 

 and lime-juice, the first reminder of civilisation for 

 four months and a half. On this cruise there was 

 an unusual piece of interest in Kennedy's ill-fated 

 expedition, which the Rattlesnake landed in Rocking- 

 ham Bay, and trusted to meet again at Cape York. 

 Happy it was for Huxley that his duties forbade him 

 to accept Kennedy's proposal to join the expedition. 



