having come to its address in Hawaii. Glad to hear good news of
Stoddard.--Yours sincerely,

R. L. STEVENSON.

_P.S._--Since the above was written an aftermath of post matter came in,
among which were the proofs of _My Grandfather_. I shall correct and
return them, but as I have lost all confidence in the Post Office, I
shall mention here: first galley, 4th line from the bottom, for "AS"
read "OR."

Should I ever again have to use my work without waiting for proofs, bear
in mind this golden principle. From a congenital defect, I must suppose,
I am unable to write the word OR--wherever I write it the printer
unerringly puts AS--and those who read for me had better, wherever it is
possible, substitute _or_ for _as_. This the more so since many writers
have a habit of using as which is death to my temper and confusion to my
face.

R. L. S.

TO LIEUTENANT EELES

The following is addressed to one of Stevenson's best friends among
the officers of H.M.S. the Curacoa, which had been for some time on
the South Pacific station.

_Vailima Plantation, Upolu, Samoan Islands, November 15th, 1892._

DEAR EELES,--In the first place, excuse me writing to you by another
hand, as that is the way in which alone all my correspondence gets
effected. Before I took to this method, or rather before I found a
victim, it simply didn't get effected.

Thank you again and again, first for your kind thought of writing to me,
and second for your extremely amusing and interesting letter. You can
have no guess how immediately interesting it was to our family. First of
all, the poor soul at Nukufetau is an old friend of ours, and we have
actually treated him ourselves on a former visit to the island. I don't
know if Hoskin would approve of our treatment; it consisted, I believe,
mostly in a present of stout and a recommendation to put nails in his
watertank. We also (as you seem to have done) recommended him to leave
the island; and I remember very well how wise and kind we thought his
answer. He had half-caste children (he said) who would suffer and
perhaps be despised if he carried them elsewhere; if he left them there
alone, they would almost certainly miscarry; and the best thing was that
he should stay and die with them. But the cream of the fun was your
meeting with Buckland. We not only know him, but (as the French say) we
don't know anybody else; he is our intimate and adored original;
and--prepare you