In the morning the storm partially subsided, and as soon as any one could stand, the king’s fat handsome daughter came up herself to get some milk for his breakfast. Her simple attire consisted of a bath-towel worn round the waist and a pocket-handkerchief tied across the capacious bosom, below the arms! The king _has_ a cow of his own, but rarely contrives to get any milk; so he generally sends up to the Langhams for either a jug of milk or of ready-made tea with bread and butter! By evening the weather was quite settled, and there was a great calm; so, as Mr Langham had business to do in Levuka, he decided to start next morning. He kindly chartered a canoe to carry my precious collection of clubs, spears, and bowls; it started at midnight, and at 3.30 A.M. Mrs L. came herself to call me. She gave us a comfortable breakfast by lamp-light. Then the boatmen, according to invariable custom, came in to _lotu_ (family prayers), and with the first glimmer of dawn we started down the green hill, and found dear old Joeli waiting to speed us on our way. What a contrast to a cheerless start for the train on a January morning in England! We sailed before sunrise, and about 9 A.M. reached a pretty small island called Thangalei, where we breakfasted under the shadow of a magnificent Mbaka tree, whose many-pillared stem formed a large enclosure, which some very utilitarian person had converted into a pig-sty! We started again as soon as possible, but there was no wind all day, and rowing a heavy boat is slow work, and so it came to pass that we missed the tide and could not get inside the reef at the passage. We therefore had to row outside in the open sea, keeping at a safe distance from the great, grand, awful breakers which fell with such appalling force and thunderous roar on the massive coral barrier, tossing vast volumes of white spray high in mid-air, and concealing from us all the land except the mountain-tops. It was very unpleasant, for though the sea was calm, it had not quite forgotten its recent battle with the winds, and heaved in great swelling rollers, which would have swept us on to the reef had not the men pulled hard. At last we came to a very narrow passage, by which we entered the calm shallow water; but it was an anxious moment, for there was only just room for the boat to pass, and as the huge walls of green water towered up on either side and fell in cataracts of foam, it seemed as though they must swallow us up. The men pulled steadily and strong, but it was an intense relief when we glided safely into the peaceful blue water of that quiet haven, and an hour later reached the pier at Nasova, where I found all the party reassembled. They had come back from Suva in H.M.S. Nymphe, with Captain Grant Suttie, just before the gale on Monday night.