58 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, iv 



think I shall go and look them up under pretence of making a 

 call. They say that the present winter is far more savage than 

 the generality of Falkland Island winters, and it had need be, 

 for I never felt anything so bitterly cold in my life. The ther- 

 mometer has been down below 22, and shallow parts of the har- 

 bour even have frozen. Nothing to be done ashore. My rifle 

 lies idle in its case ; no chance of a shot at a bull, and one has to 

 go away 20 miles to get hold even of the upland geese and 

 rabbits. The only thing to be done is to eat, eat, eat, and the 

 cold assists one wonderfully in that operation. You consume 

 a pound or so of beefsteaks at breakfast and then walk the 

 deck for an appetite at dinner, when you take another pound or 

 two of beef or a goose, or some such trifle. By four o'clock it 

 is dark night, and as it is too cold to read the only thing to be 

 done is to vanish under blankets as soon as possible and take 

 twelve or fourteen hours' sleep. 



Mrs. Stanley's Bougirigards,* which I have taken under my 

 care during the cold weather, admire this sort of thing exceed- 

 ingly and thrive under it, so I suppose I ought to. 



The journey from New Zealand here has been upon the 

 whole favourable; no gales — quite the reverse — but light vari- 

 able winds and calms. The latter part of our voyage has, how- 

 ever, been very cold, snow falling in abundance, and the ice 

 forming great stalactites about our bows. We have seen no 

 icebergs nor anything remarkable. From all I can learn it is 

 most probable that we shall leave in about a week and shall go 

 direct to England without stopping at any other port. I wish 

 it may be so. I want to get home and look about me. 



We have had news up to the end of March. There is noth- 

 ing of any importance going on. By the Navy list for April I 

 see that I shall be as nearly as possible in the middle of those 

 of my own rank, i.e. I shall have about 150 above and as many 

 below me. This is about what I ought to expect in the ordinary 

 run of promotion in eight years, and I have served four and a 

 half of that time. I don't expect much in the way of promotion, 

 especially in these economic times; but I do not fear that I 

 shall be able to keep me in England for at least a year after 

 our arrival, in order to publish my papers. The Admiralty 

 have quite recently published a distinct declaration that they 

 will consider scientific attainments as a claim to their notice, 

 and I expect to be the first to remind them of their promise, and 



* The Australian love-bird ; a small parrakeet. 



