134 THURSDAY ISLAND chap. 
To-day, the Governor, Sir Henry Norman, landed 
officially with the Admiral, Lord Charles Scott, and 
this house, and all the windows about, rattled again 
and s^ain, as each gun went off. How they must 
have astonished the natives on the surrounding islands ! 
To-night, Prince of Wales' Island is all alight with 
huge bush fires, whether in honour of the Squadron or 
not, we do not know ; there are only natives living 
there, and a small settlement of b£che-de-mer fishers. 
These latter partly cook the bfiche-de-mer (or sea- 
slugs), then dry them in the sun and smoke them. 
There are several different kinds of these slugs, and 
they are horrid-looking creatures when taken fresh from 
the water ; I believe most of them go to China. These 
waters also send away, annually, ;f 120,000 worth of 
pearl shell. 
Thursday Island. 
My week is almost up, and I had intended leaving 
by the next boat, but I have tempting offers to visit 
the different islands, and, as a beginning, I have decided 
next week to go to Somerset on the mainland. Thus 
my plans are altered, and I am going again to let 
my^lf drift. Last night there was a children's fancy 
dress ball at the Residency, and we had a rather 
awkward accident, for, as we (the Governor, the 
Admiral, and I) were starting from the hotel for the 
ball, in the landlady's pony carriage, in the dark, we 
drove very quickly under a stretched clothes-line. It 
caught the Admiral, who was sitting in front, with such 
force under the chin, that it sent him flying on to his 
back in the road. Fortunately, the dust was inches in 
depth where he fell, and beyond a severe bruising, and 
a cut under the chin, he was not seriously injured. 
The Governor, who was sitting behind with me, escaped 
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