BAT OF ISLANDS AND NEW ZEALAND COAST. 317 



I once took a party (while I was an A.B.) from Wells- 

 street Home to the South Kensington Museum. There 

 were six of them — a Frenchman, a Dane, a Eussian Finn, 

 two Englishmen, and an Irishman. Though continually 

 sailing from London for years, this was the first occasion 

 they had ever heen west of Aldgate. The only mistake I 

 made was in going too deep at one step. The journey from 

 Shadwell to South Kensington, under the guidance of 

 one familiar, through the hardest personal experiences, 

 with every corner of the vast network, was quite enough 

 for one day. So that by the time we entered the Museum 

 they were surfeited temporarily with sight-seeing, and 

 not able to take in the wonders of the mighty place. 

 Seeing this, I did not persist, but, after some rest and 

 refreshment, led them across the road among the naval 

 models. Ah ! it was a rare treat to see them there. For 

 if there is one thing more than another which interests a 

 sailor, it is a well-made model of a ship. Sailors are 

 model makers almost by nature, turning out with the 

 most meagre outfit of tools some wonderfully-finished 

 replicas of the vessels in which they have sailed. And 

 the collection of naval models at South Kensington is, 

 I suppose, unsurpassed in the world for the number and 

 finish of the miniature vessels there shown. 



Our day was a great success, never to be forgotten 

 by those poor fellows, whose only recreation previously 

 had been to stroll listlessly up and down the gloomy, 

 stone-flagged hall of the great barracks until sheer 

 weariness drove them out into the turbid current of the 

 "Highway," there to seek speedily some of the dirty 

 haunts where the " runner " and the prostitute awaited 

 them. 



But I have wandered far from the Bay of Islands 

 while thus chattering of the difficulties that beset the 



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