Polynesia. Here as in the Ladrones, far away in the north-west quarter
of the Pacific, most curious inscriptions are sometimes found carved
in stone. Annexed is a photograph taken from one I saw at a later
stage of the voyage.

[Illustration: Inscription from Easter Island]

The sails had been flapping, more or less, all day, and at the change
of the dog-watches, at six o'clock, Tom ordered the men aft to stow
the mizen. This they had scarcely begun to do when a light breeze
sprang up, and in a few minutes increased to a strong one, before
which we bowled along at the rate of nine knots. These sudden changes
are of constant occurrence, and, coming as they do without the
slightest warning, are quite inexplicable. If only we had our old
square sails, and our bigger yards and topmast, we should have saved a
good deal of time already; for one or two knots an hour extra amount
to from 25 to 50 miles a day, and in a month's run the difference
would not be far short of 1,500 miles. But we heard so much from
people in England, who had visited these parts, of squalls and
hurricanes, that Tom did not like to run the risk of being
over-sparred, especially with a wife and children as passengers.

_Monday, November 20th_.--The fore-and-aft sails were taken in, as
they were doing no good and the square canvas was drawing. This
allowed the mizen-awning to be spread, making a pleasant place to sit
in and a capital playground for the children, who scamper about all
day long, and do not appear to feel the heat a bit.

_Tuesday, November 21st_.--Certainly a _very_ hot day. We made steady
progress under the same canvas as yesterday.