CH. Ill ON BOARD H.M.S. 'FLYING FISH' 39 



can see in a moment both in the hearing of the natives and 

 the regularity of their homes and villages the beneficent 

 influence of the minister they are fortunate enough to 

 have in their midst. 



An hour spent with Mr. Kelling, who talked to us in 

 German both of the troubles and anxieties in his work 

 and of the natural history of his highland home, passed 

 pleasantly enough, and then he took us through a grove of 

 screw pines and another of coco-nut palms to a little 

 hill from which we were able to obtaia a magnificent 

 view over part of the island, the Euang volcano, and the 

 sea. 



Eeturning to the shore, we found our time was up, so, 

 bidding good-bye to Mr. Kelling, we hurried on board the 

 ' Flying Fish ' and were soon under way again for our 

 observation island, Tindela. 



We stayed less than twenty-four hours at Tindela, the 

 object of that flying visit to our observation spot being 

 only to correct by it the determination of the longitude of 

 the Euang volcano. The spot that Captain Maclear had 

 chosen was a low sandy spit on the southern side of 

 Tindela. It combined the advantage for astronomical work 

 of a considerable sea horizon with an uninterrupted view of 

 many of the most important islands, capes, and headlands 

 in the Straits. 



It was an interesting place in many other respects, and 

 I have often wandered up and down the sandy shore when 

 the officers were taking observations, watching the crowds 

 of hermit crabs crawling along the sand at high tide or 

 picking up the lumps of water-worn coral and other deh'is 

 with which the beach is Uttered. 



When the observations were concluded, we hastened 

 back to Tagulandang, and once more we dropped our 

 anchor off the Euang as the sun was setting. 



