On our voyage out I had no duties to perform on board, but I found much to interest myself in the beautiful tropical islands among which we threaded our way; and I took quite a childish delight in everything I saw.

It was really a grand time for me.

I constantly wrote home to my mother, the last letter I forwarded to her being from Koopang.

Occasionally we landed on one of the islands to buy fresh provisions, in the shape of fowls, pigs, fruit, &c.

We then set sail for the coast of New Guinea.
The voyage thence was accomplished without the slightest hitch, the divers spending most of their time in singing and playing like little children,--all in the best of good spirits.