172 
FROM YOKOHAMA TO VALPARAISO. 
latest chart published by the Admiralty. During the last day of August and the 1st of 
September, a strong current and a westerly gale drove the ship considerably more than a 
hundred miles to the eastward of her course. In the afternoon of the 5th September, we 
crossed the Equator for the fifth time since our departure from England. The next crossing 
of the line, we all hoped, would be in the direction of a homeward course ; but our confidence 
in a safe return for each and all of our company received a rude shock in a sad event 
marking our last entrance into the southern hemisphere. On the 13th of September, after 
a short illness, died Dr. Rudolf von Willemoes-Suhm, one of my colleagues on the Civilian 
Scientific Staff. He was a native of Schleswig-Holstein, and showed very early a decided 
taste for natural science. Having completed his studies at the Universities of Gottingen 
and Bonn, he was appointed Privat-Docent in Zoology in the University of Munich, which 
appointment, indeed, he held at the time of his death, having obtained leave of absence to 
join the “ Challenger ” Expedition. Dr. von Willemoes-Suhm devoted much attention to the 
structure and physiology of the crustaceans and other invertebrate animals obtained during 
the progress of the voyage, and has left behind him many valuable papers, and a series 
of carefully-executed drawings. Natural science has lost in him one of her most earnest 
students. For many a day we sorrowfully missed his familiar form from its accustomed 
place in the zoological laboratorium, where, ever and anon peering into his microscope, he 
had daily jotted down with unwearied industry his observations upon newly-discovered 
organisms. 
Our long and sad cruise of 2600 miles from Hawaii came to a termination on Saturday, 
September 18. As morning dawned, two large islands became visible upon the southern 
horizon. These were Tahiti and the neighbouring island of Eimeo. The former culminates 
in three pyramidal summits of nearly equal height, the highest, Orovena, being 7339 feet 
above the level of the sea ; the latter, situated more to the westward, presented an even more 
extraordinary outline, composed of steep crags and lofty cones mingling with the clouds. 
TAHITI. 
In the afternoon, H.M.S. “Challenger” anchored in the harbour of Papeete. The view 
from deck, especially towards sunset, was magnificent; to landward the town of Papeete, 
its roofs and church steeple just overtopping the grove of trees in which the houses are 
enclosed, and above them a huge red and grey tinted mountain mass towering up into the 
sky; to seaward, a line of reefs breaking the smooth surface of the water, which reflected 
the crimson rays of the sun setting behind Eimeo. The first days succeeding our arrival 
were spent in a mutual interchange of the civilities customary at the visit of a man-of-war 
in a foreign port—in making official calls, receiving and returning the visits of the 
notabilities of the place. Accompanied by the British Consul and the aide-de-camp of His 
Excellency the Governor, we went to pay our respects to Queen Pomare. The reception took 
place in a building adjoining Government House. We were met at the door by one of the 
