xxvij HUXLEY 35 



Maklay was a small, wiry man, somewhat younger than 

 myself; he spoke English well, and told us all about what 

 he was going to do. His idea was that you could really 

 learn nothing about natives unless you lived with them and 

 became almost one of themselves ; above all, you must win 

 their confidence, and must therefore begin by trusting them 

 absolutely. He proposed to go in a Russian warship, and 

 be left for a year at some part of the north coast where 

 Europeans were wholly unknown, with one servant, but with- 

 out visible arms. This was, I think, in the winter of 1870-71. 

 Both Huxley and myself thought this plan exceedingly risky, 

 but he determined to try it ; and he succeeded, but through 

 the exercise of an amount of coolness and courage which very 

 few men indeed possess. He returned to Russia to complete 

 his preparations, and in September, 1871, was landed in 

 Astrolabe Bay with two servants, one a Swede and the other 

 a Polynesian. The ship's carpenter built him a small hut, 

 fourteen feet by seven feet, and then the ship sailed away 

 and left him totally unprotected. As soon as it was seen 

 that the ship was completely out of sight, large numbers of 

 natives, armed with knives, bows, and spears, gathered round 

 his hut and soon began to make warlike demonstrations, 

 which went on more or less for some days. They would 

 shoot arrows close to his head or body, or draw their bow 

 to the full with the arrow directed to his chest, and then 

 loose the string with a twang, while holding back the arrow ; 

 but he sat still and smiled, knowing, I suppose, that if they 

 really meant to kill him that was hardly the way they would 

 do it, and that in any case he could not possibly escape 

 them. At other times they would run at him with their 

 spears, or press the spear-point against his teeth till he was 

 forced to open his mouth. But finding that he was brave, 

 that he did not try to escape them, and also finding that he 

 was a "medicine" man, could heal their wounds and cure 

 the sick, they gradually came to consider him as a friend 

 and even as a supernatural being. Soon one servant died, 

 and the other was almost constantly ill, so that the doctor 

 had plenty to do ; but he lived with these people for fifteen 



