unt to her new mission station at Murray Island. We
finally decided to proceed as far as Darnley Island, which we should
necessarily pass on the way to Murray Island; so, passing Campbell,
Stevens, and Nepean Islands, at which innumerable cross-bearings were
taken, we anchored off Darnley Island precisely at half-past ten. It
is very pretty as seen from the sea, with large groves of cocoa-nut
trees growing right down to the shore. On the higher ground the
cleared slopes of grass give it at a distance something of the look of
an English park. At half-past eleven we all landed, being only too
glad to have dry land once more beneath our feet, after the shaking
and tossing about of the last twenty-four hours. All our anxieties as
to Mrs. Hunt were relieved by seeing her husband's schooner, the
'Mary,' riding quietly at anchor in the bay. The difficulties of
landing were great, for the tide was low and the poor gig kept bumping
against the coral-reefs and rocks to such an extent that I was afraid
she would have a hole knocked in her bottom. However, some of the
natives came out to help us, and, wading waist-deep in the water,
guided us into a small channel, and from thence carried us one by one
ashore. I was borne in my chair straight to the house of the chief,
who is called King Jack, and who, with his wife, was anxious to
welcome and shake hands with us all. The flag flying before his trim
little cottage--red with a yellow cross--did not satisfy King Jack at
all, so we promised him a blue Jack for use on future festive
occasions.

At the back of the village a grove of cocoa-nuts waving in the strong
sea-breeze put me in mind of a South Sea island, such as we so often
landed on in going round the world in 1870. Even the dress of the
natives was just the same, consisting of the original long George II.
sack, brought out by the first missionaries, with its original shape
somewhat lost and altered by the lapse of long years and the variety
of hands through which the pattern has passed. We rested in the back
garden for some time. The chief's men climbed the trees and brought us
down fresh cocoa-nuts, giving us the milk and the nice creamy
substance which lines the shell when the nuts are quite young. This is
most delicious, and is a dainty one never has a chance of tasting in
England, for it is quite different to the dried-up and aged cocoa-nuts
to be procured from Covent Garden. We took some photographs of the
groups of nativ