Tiii PREFACE. 
following pages are pieced together from letters 
actually written home, from my journal, and 
from recollections that can never be dimmed. 
I consider it an advantage to write when time 
has removed the exaggerations with which the 
mood of the moment might have distorted facts 
or influenced feelings ; while I have also had 
opportunity for maturer consideration of, and 
authentic information on, many points. 
It is with pleasure that I acknowledge my 
indebtedness to my sister Carrie, and my friend 
Mr D. M. J. James, Forres, without whose aid 
these pages had never reached their present 
form. The former has transcribed this little 
work throughout ; and the latter, on a sudden 
call to me to join my husband in New Guinea, 
has taken my manuscript from my hands, en- 
tailing on himself the no inconsiderable labour 
necessary for the completion of a book even 
after the actual composition is accomplished. 
ANNA FORBES. 
Eubislaw Ben, Aberdeen, 
6fA March 1886. 
