] 86 
AN EVENING WALK. 
< 
It was not so very hot in Timor-laut. It was 
not the cool season during our stay, for we had 
very little rain indeed, but there was often a 
strong breeze from the sea, which had this com- 
fort that it carried off mosquitoes ; but it was 
simply courting a fever attack to go out in it. 
It used to blow through the strait in a gentle 
hurricane at times, and then we were anxious 
for the boats crossing, which often barely escaped 
being carried out to sea. Occasionally there was 
a soft balmy wind, but it was even more deadly. 
I see by my journal that one such evening we 
strolled out by the shore, and stayed long watch- 
ing the lizards and the hermit-crabs at their 
funny tricks ; and the tide being back, we saw 
many varieties of shells. We sat down on a 
tree-stump to enjoy the scene before us,— the 
blue-green channel, the rich verdure-clad islands 
beyond, the soft blue and pink tinted sky over- 
head, mingling evermore in the rich sunset. 
Warned by this glow we loitered homewards, 
the golden lights on our faces and the soothing 
breeze lifting our hair, full of satisfaction and 
enjoyment. But, alas \ the journal contains no 
further record till three weeks afterwards, when 
1 resume, M I am for the first time able to write, 
having been day by day prostrated by fever.” 
