kind friends, had sent us. Before seven the yacht was surrounded by
boats, and the deck was quite impassable, so encumbered was it with
all sorts of lumber, waiting to be stowed away, until the boats could
be hoisted on board and secured for the voyage. The large mizen-sail,
which had just been repaired and sent on board, looked enormous as it
lay on the deck, surrounded by hen-coops, sheep, geese, sacks of coal,
and baskets and parcels of every size and shape. One really began to
wonder whether space could possibly be found on board for such a
miscellaneous collection. Several visitors, who had been unable to
come yesterday, arrived in the midst of the confusion. They must have
carried away in their minds a different impression of the yacht from
what they would have done had they seen her looking as trim and smart
as she did yesterday. It could not, however, be helped; for the
departure of a small vessel, with forty people on board, on a voyage
of a month's duration, is a matter requiring considerable preparation.

At eleven o'clock we landed and went to see the interior of the
Queen's Hospital. It is a fine and well-kept building, containing, at
the time of our visit, about ninety patients, the men occupying the
lower, the women the upper story. Each ward is tastefully decorated
with bouquets, and the name is written up in bright mauve
bougainvillea or scarlet hibiscus, tacked on to white calico. Many of
the convalescents wore wreaths and garlands of flowers, and even those
in bed had a few beside them, or in some cases a single spray laid on
the coverlet. The effect was bright and cheerful; and it seemed a kind
and sensible idea to endeavour to gratify, instead of to repress, the
instinctive love of flowers universally felt by the natives of these
and of the South Sea Islands.

From the hospital we went to pay farewell visits, to lunch at the