who could communicate with the natives. The ignorance of
English proved a great drawback to all trade, and it has certainly
retarded for years to come the opening up of the country. Not only is
the climate bad, but the natives of New Guinea are treacherous, and
not to be depended on for a moment.

[Illustration: Curios from Murray Island]

Mr. Savage has been out here for two years, thirteen months of which
time he has lived entirely by himself. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt are now going
to inhabit Murray Island, with only one European carpenter as their
companion, while Mr. Savage will be stationed principally at the Fly
River. The mission receives all its supplies from England _via_
Thursday Island, from which place they are fetched in the little
schooner, built by the carpenter Bruce, who was formerly a
yacht-builder. The life of these good people appears to be one of
much self-abnegation. I hope with all my heart that the mission may
succeed, and that the devoted missionaries will be rewarded for their
self-denying exertions.

_Saturday, August 27th._--A grey morning, with the wind blowing
stronger than ever. Navigation in these seas is by no means easy.
During the night we had dragged our anchor a little, enough to get
unpleasantly near the shore; and just as we weighed, the sails did not
fill so quickly as they ought to have done, which caused the yacht to
pay off with her head _towards_ the shore instead of _off_ shore.
There was barely a ship's length between us and the reef. It was with
great difficulty, and only by promptly dropping the anchor, that we
prevented ourselves from running straight on to shore. On first
starting we thought we should only get to Bet Island, one of the three
sisters. These islets swarm with turtle, which lay their eggs on the
sandy shores all the year round. We were looking forward to turtle
soup, turtle eggs, and all sorts of delicacies, to make a pleasant
change in the monotony of our daily fare. The wind, however, blew so
fresh that, though close-reefed, we sailed from ten to twelve knots an
hour, which of course caused a considerable amount of motion.

At a little before noon to-day we were off Cocoa-nut Island. Later we
passed in succession the Bet, Sue, and Poll Islands, and the Ninepin
Rock, a curious-shaped little islet, though anything less like a
ninepin I cannot imagine. In the afternoon, by dint of hard driving,
we were able to reach a good anchorage in Flinders Channel, between