"AVE ATQUE VALE^' 207 



"anofe about a medical board. We left Colombo 

 the 1 8th December, and after a stormy passage 

 ainst a powerful current, the Investigator, whose 

 rong point never was speed, at last got into 

 adras. There I brought Captain Hoskyn before a 

 edical board, who found that he was suffering from 

 iithisis, and ordered him away on leave at once. 

 The poor fellow rejoined his wife at Poona with the 

 idea of eventually going on to Egypt or Algiers, but 

 before he could get away from this country he died, 

 to the very great grief of us all, for a kinder, truer 

 man, and a cheerier commanding-ofiScer never stepped. 

 I shall always retain the kindliest feelings for him, 

 for I cannot imagine a man who, while making 

 no pretensions to any special interest in zoology, 

 could yet be more indulgent to the naturalist's de- 

 partment, or more tolerant of the noise and mess 

 — so utterly opposed to all the traditions of the 

 British navy — which are inseparable from dredging 

 operations. 



From Madras we proceeded northwards to Bimli- 

 patam, there to provide ourselves with a surf-boat 

 and crew, for on this exposed coast the surf, even 

 when an ordinary ship's boat can live in it, is always 

 boisterous enough to make landing in such a boat a 

 matter of difficulty and risk, especially when surveying 

 instruments have to be thought of. Having got our 

 boat, we went down the coast again to Coconada, 



