54 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, iv 



It is no exaggeration to say hot, for the temperature is that at 

 which people at home commonly take a hot bath. It rains so 

 hard that we have caught seven tons of water in one day, and 

 it is therefore impossible to go on deck, though, if one did, one's 

 condition would not be much improved. A hot Scotch mist 

 covers the sea and hides the land, so that no surveying can be 

 done; moving about in the slightest degree causes a flood of 

 perspiration to pour out; all energy is completely gone, and if 

 I could help it I would not think even; it's too hot. The rain 

 awnings are spread, and we can have no wind sails up ; if we 

 could, there is not a breath of wind to fill them; and conse- 

 quently the lower and main decks are utterly unventilated : a 

 sort of solution of man in steam fills them from end to end, and 

 surrounds the lights with a lurid halo. It's too hot to sleep, 

 and my sole amusement consists in watching the cockroaches, 

 which are in a state of intense excitement and happiness. They 

 manifest these feelings in a very remarkable manner — a sudden 

 unanimous impulse seems to seize the obscene thousands which 

 usually lurk hidden in the corners of my cabin. Out they rush, 

 helter-skelter, and run over me, my table, and my desk; others, 

 more vigorous, fly, quite regardless of consequences, until they 

 hit against something, upon which, half spreading their wings, 

 they make their heads a pivot and spin round in a circle, in a 

 manner which indicates a temporary aberration of the cock- 

 roach mind. It is these outbreaks alone which rouse us from 

 our lassitude. Knocks are heard resounding on all sides, and 

 each inhabitant of a cabin, armed with a slipper, is seen taking 

 ample revenge upon the disturbers of his rest and the destroyers 

 of his body and clothes." 



Here, on the other hand, is an oasis, a bartering scene at 

 Bruny Island, in the Louisiade : — 



"We landed at the same place as before, and this time the 

 natives ran down prancing and gesticulating. Many of them 

 had garlands of green leaves round their heads, knees, and 

 ankles ; some wore long streamers depending from their arms 

 and ears and floating in the wind as they galloped along, shak- 

 ing their spears and prancing just as boys do when playing at 

 horses. They soon surrounded us, shouting ' Kelumai ! Ke- 

 lumai ! ' (their word for iron), and offering us all sorts of 

 things in exchange. One very fine athletic man, ' Kai-oo-why- 

 who-at ' by name, was perfectly mad to get an axe, and very 

 soon comprehended the arrangements that were made. Mr. 

 Brady drew ten lines on the sand and laid an axe down by them, 



