decayed pork and rotted apples. He replied placidly that he
thought it came from a hundred kegs of salted salmon bellies which were
stowed below everything else, and that he "guessed some of them hed
busted".

"It is enough to breed a pestilence," I said; "why do you not all
turn-to, get the stuff up and heave it overboard? You must excuse me,
captain, but for Heaven's sake let us get on deck."

On returning to the poop we found that the skipper of our vessel had
come on board, and was conversing with Mrs. Richards. I took him aside
and told him of what I had seen, and suggested that we should make them
a present of the provisions. He quite agreed with me, so turning to
Captain Richards and the goat-faced old man and several other of the
Brethren who had joined them, I said that the captain and I hoped that
they would accept the provisions from us, as we felt sure that our
owners would not mind. And I also added that we would send them a few
bags of flour and some other things during the course of the day. And
then the captain, knowing that Captain Richards and his wife were coming
to have tea with us, took pity on the Brethren and said, he hoped they
would all come to breakfast in the morning.

Poor beggars. Grateful! Of course they were, and although they were
sheer lunatics--religious lunatics such as the United States produces by
tens of thousands every year--we felt sincerely sorry for them when they
told us their miserable story. The spokesman was an old fellow of sixty
with long flowing hair--the brother-in-law of the man with the goat's
face--and an enthusiast But mad--mad as a hatter.

"The Islands Brothers' Association of Christians" had its genesis in
Philadelphia. It was formed "by a few pious men to found a settlement in
the South Seas, till the soil, build a temple, instruct the savages,
and live in peace and happiness". Twenty-eight persons joined and seven
thousand dollars were raised in one way and another--mostly from other
lunatics. Many "sympathisers" gave goods, food, etc., to help the cause
(hence the awful rubbish in the hold), and at 'Frisco they spent one
thousand five hundred dollars in buying "trade goods to barter with
the simple natives". At 'Frisco the _Julia_, then lying condemned, was
bought for a thousand dollars--she was not worth three hundred dollars,
and was put under the Ecuadorian flag. "God sent them friends in
Captain Richards and his wife," ambled on the old man. Richards be